


Welcome to the Cartoonishly Strange New World

by RedJLP



Series: The Doctor does Disney [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Chameleon Arch (Doctor Who), Game: Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Regeneration (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25301041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedJLP/pseuds/RedJLP
Summary: While training, three students witness the rocky landing of a box-like vehicle and discover it's curious pilot. If only they knew someone close to them had set his sights on dividing the three (now four, I guess) to further his own machinations.
Series: The Doctor does Disney [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832794
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14
Collections: The Doctor does Disney





	1. Season Trailer

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if anyone has done this before me, but suffice it to say I'll still give it a go because I might as well show the Internet my progress with my writing skills.
> 
> I might crosspost to ff.net to expand my potential audience, but for now I'll stick with what I know and am comfortable with.
> 
> Again, the details of the chaos that happens when the Doctor enters play is of my mind, but the characters and settings never were in the first place.  
> Doctor Who created, owned, produced and distributed by the BBC  
> Kingdom Hearts owned by Disney, developed, published and distributed by Square Enix  
> All other characters are owned by their respective creators/licensors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The BBC, Disney and Square Enix have announced a partnership to adapt the Kingdom Hearts games for TV with the inclusion of the Doctor. Very few details are known until the trailer drops on BBC One, ABC and Disney XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this were to actually happen (unrealistic as it might be) it would probably be shown on the BBC's main self titled channels in each nation and Disney XD and/or ABC for the sake of the largest audience reach possible with each party's self owned TV networks. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.

In the middle of a library with bookshelves everywhere, many of them lined with copies of long told fairytales and others with novelisations of famous movies, stood an armchair with a little side table next to it on which sat a steaming mug and a few biscuits. The face of the being sat in the armchair was obscured by the book she was reading, but behind it, wavy shoulder length locks of blonde hair could be seen from the sides. She read aloud from the book in her hands, “‘There were once three friends who trained to fight, aspiring to be the new guardians of light.’” As she read, flashes of the three in question flooded her mind and found themselves projected around the chair she’s seated in. One of them, a tall and dark haired male, was seen carving through numerous purple creatures in a castle foyer. Another, a short, blonde haired male was seen fighting a similarly built young man wearing a helmet with a fully blacked out visor. The last, a slim, blue haired female was seen struggling to her feet with the aid of an anthropomorphic mouse. All three were in their late teens. The reader continued, “‘Their journeys were all plagued by trials and tribulations, but who were they fighting against, that needed speculation.’ It’s a fantasy tale with villains lurking around every corner, some even hiding in plain sight. But it leaves out the one thing neither end of the scale would have expected,” and with that the book was lowered showing the reader and therefore speaker to be a grinning white woman that looked like she was in her thirties who then said, “The arrival of the Time Lord!” She then swiped her hand across and treated her audience to more flashes of her and the three pictured. Some in the control room of a what could be described as a spaceship as a blue box barrels down a vortex, some show interactions with Disney characters, some show them running down a hallway and still others show brawls with more monsters. This montage concludes on a shot of the four in various postures around the blue box from the vortex as a voice from out of nowhere announces, “Coming soon to BBC One.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised I didn't start with this as those cheesy teasers from the Russell T Davies era were probably what really got people to see the show after it rebooted in '05 and not just because it was the first real attempt (evidently successful considering it's still going to this day) to start a new run of Doctor Who since the '96 TV Movie. The specific scenes shown of the Birth By Sleep trio probably need no explanation, but the montage at the end was mostly inspired by the teasers for Season 3, the second with David Tennant at the wheel, this time with Freema Agyeman's Martha Jones as his companion. Wow, I was expecting to have a lot more to say here.


	2. The Three Apprentices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey begins

As the dusk descended upon the Destiny Islands, one young man with silvery hair and yellow eyes gazed off into the sunset, knowing it was too small a world for his aspirations. Little did he know that many years later, after leaving as per his dreams, he would return with an unconscious young blonde human male body cloaked in a white sheet in his arms. That night, he left the body there knowing the world was a fitting prison for a boy without a full soul. However, this world was also home to someone who could repair it and instill the hope of rejoining with the part that was lost. This renewal allowed the boy to reach up for something. As the old man looked on in realisation, a weapon formed in the boy’s hand, one the shape of a large key. This key began to glow gold before sending a beam of energy into the sky. At first, it stopped some distance upwards and exploded into dust, but from there a smaller beam splintered off and kept going. Where would it go? They would find out inadvertently.

Opening titles:

(0:08 - 0:09)

Lily James

(0:09 - 0:11)

Willa Holland

(0:11 - 0:13)

Jesse McCartney

(0:13 - 0:14)

Jason Dohring

(0:23 - 0:25)

Based on

The Kingdom Hearts video game series

(0:26 - 0:28)

Story Outline & Concept Design

Tetsuya Nomura

(0:30 - 0:36)

The Three Apprentices

written by RedJLP

Some time later….

The boy in question awakened from this vision, as if it were a dream, in a room bathed in blue light and decorated by bookcases, drawings and other assorted items. This time, he realized he was in his typical black t-shirt and long pants. Before he could have any chance to question the meaning of what he may have seen, he looked out the window and saw among the stars something he found a spectacle to behold. “A meteor shower!” he cried as he raced off his bed, grabbed his vest of a black left and a white right and ran out the door. As he made his way through the halls to the front door while hurriedly putting on the vest, the light around him started to become a more warm shade of yellow under the wick of lanterns. This persisted as he entered the front courtyard only to realize he didn't have the best view and ran on. He slowed to a calm pace as the path opened into a similarly well lit clearing much better suited for his needs and stopped at an edge of a long drop. He sat himself down and relaxed as he pondered, “Why does this seem so familiar?” As he continued to wonder and take in the mesmerising sights, he felt himself dozing off. He couldn’t help it.

He didn’t know for how long he had slept, but when his eyes drifted open, he noticed that the meteor shower had died down, but was otherwise still going. Taking a moment to stretch and take in his surroundings, he suddenly became aware of a girl with blue hair and in similarly blue dress sense looking down on him, spooking him into a sitting position, only to look behind him at the girl who chuckled at the sight of her friend’s shock. Relieved to see a familiar face, all he had to say was, “Gimme a break, Aqua.”

The girl, Aqua, had grown used to this sort of thing given how long the two had known each other, but still somehow felt a touch of sarcasm in her next few words, “Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead, you know you should have at least brought a blanket.”

The boy, Ventus (though everyone calls him Ven), couldn’t shake the feeling of significance his vision had. “But- Did I dream that place up? It really felt like I’d been there before… looking up at the stars...” This contemplation was quickly interrupted by another chuckle from Aqua accompanied by her hand ruffling his hair.

“‘Cept you’ve always lived here with us,” Aqua noted as if she were stating a matter-of-fact.

“Yeah… I know,” Ven reconciled before walking up to and sitting on the edge with Aqua. This gave him an opportunity to probe the philosophical part of her brain. He asked her, “Hey Aqua, y’ever wonder what stars really are? Or where light comes from?”

She took a second to collect her thoughts. “Well, they say-” she began before a deeper, more masculine voice interrupted her, completing her response for her.

“That every star up there is another world,” it said, drawing the two’s attention behind them, where they saw a young man with dark hair and blue eyes with a slender yet comparably more physically imposing build than either of them. Aqua recognised the newcomer almost immediately as Terra, their fellow student at the self defense training area nearby. Terra continued as he joined them, “Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own. The light is their hearts, and it’s shining down on us like a million lanterns.” 

“What?” Ven asked. “I don’t get it.”

“In other words, they’re just like you, Ven,” Terra replied. 

“What does *that* mean?” Ven was still very much baffled by his cohort’s words.

Knowing it might be a while before this would change, all Terra could say was, “You’ll find out someday, I’m sure.”

Raising his voice, Ven impatiently cried, “I wanna know now!”

Terra was tempted to facepalm himself, but was able to restrain himself to just say, “You’re too young to know now.”

Ven began to lose himself to his own impatience as he yelled, “Quit treating me like a kid!” The sight of her two friends quarrelling like an old married couple was something of a delight to the bystanding Aqua. She couldn’t hide the smile on her face nor the giggle she was trying to suppress.

Even so, Terra still heard it, asking “Hey, what’re you laughing at?” 

“I can’t help it,” she replied. “You two would make the weirdest brothers.”

The boys stood puzzled for a moment, but soon found themselves joining in. It wasn’t long before they were all three sitting at the edge admiring the view. A minute or so passed before Aqua realized, “Oh, yeah. Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow. Seeing as we’ll need them, here are some good luck charms I made.” The charms she now held were of a star shape and coloured respective to the one it was made for. She threw an orange one to Terra and a green one to Ven, keeping the blue one for herself. Deciding to share the inspiration, Aqua spoke of a tree that grew elsewhere and bore star-shaped fruit, fruit that represents an unbreakable connection, somewhere among the stars. Knowing that, she shaped the charms as stars to ensure the three of them always had a way back to each other. “Technically, I think you’re supposed to make them with seashells,” Aqua went on, “but I did the best with what I had.”

Feeling a bit of a cringe coming on, Terra said, “Oy, sometimes you are such a girl.”

“Hey,” Aqua said. “What do you mean ‘sometimes’?”

“So this isn’t a real good luck charm?” Ven asked, disheartened.

“Well, that’s yet to be seen,” Aqua replied. “But I did work a little magic on it.”

Ven felt his spirits rising again. “Really? What?”

Raising her charm proudly above her head, Aqua declared, “An unbreakable connection.”

As a last minute effort to prepare, the three sparred with each other to keep their combat skills with their key-shaped weapons ready for examination. When they were all finished, Ven took another last look at the meteor shower before Terra called him back to turn in for the night. As for Aqua, she decided to take another moment to look up to the stars from another nearby viewpoint and grip her charm as she says to herself, “Together, always.” Feeling satisfied, she turns to join her friends but as they begin to leave, Ven points out a meteor that seemed closer than the rest. Aqua looks at it and decides to speak her mind about it. “I think it’s getting closer,” she says. “We should go.”

“Are you kidding?” Ven asked with a spark in his eye. “I wanna see what it is!” 

“Then we should take cover,” called Terra as he found a rock to hide behind. The other two followed his lead and did the same. As they looked over their protection, they could see that the coming meteor was much closer and the fire surrounding it had dispersed to the point where they could see not a rock from the heavens, but a mysterious blue box spinning out of control. As it touched down while somehow staying what appeared to be the right way up, it kicked up dust that was thrown at the three. Everyone ducked behind their cover and when the dust settled, they went out from behind their respective rocks and investigated the curious object. From the doors and the writing above them, they decided it had to be some kind of emergency vehicle, which seemed odd as none of them had called for such. When the doors swung open and a curious blonde humanoid female stood there, breathing quite heavily, they got their answer. This curious being says “Anyone know the quickest route to Gallifrey?” before collapsing with a thud.

Aqua felt a bit of pity as she decided, “We have to help her.” She ran over to the fainted traveller and checked her vitals, confirming that yes, she was still alive. She called Terra over to help carry the unconscious body to a room before the three of them turned in for the last night they would ever spend beneath the same stars.

At the same time, another adventurer was training in a much different way. An anthropomorphic mouse, he was testing his balance on a book that was going down a simulated whirlpool. This session was abruptly cut short by the supervisor, an aging sorcerer by the name Yen Sid, as the mouse was falling to an otherwise certain doom. As the mouse stepped towards his master’s desk with little more than a bump to show for the session, Yen Sid tells him, “Mickey, I cannot shake the feeling something terrible is about to transpire.” The mouse, Mickey, gave him a quizzical look, unaware of the role he was to play in the defence of the light against its gravest threat in many years, perhaps ages.

Inside the blue box, it had been various scenes of utter chaos for the last many minutes. It had been floating through space for some time with the pilot unable to decide where to go. Until a tear in the fabric of reality appears as if from nowhere and the box is struck by a beam of energy in such a way that the pilot knew they would be struggling for control as it was violently spinning towards and eventually into the created rift. Initially, they tried to resist, but inevitably relented when the innate curiosity and lust for adventure won out. Even after acknowledging this, having to evade any piece of furniture in the main room not nailed to the floor now sent flying around the room in every direction was still nightmarishly stressful despite the many times this has happened in the past. Unfortunately, they were so battered by these things that their flesh started glowing gold. Thankfully, this had concluded with their face now being changed into the female one seen by the three friends by the time they had exited the box and it was all over, despite the unfamiliar room in which they were now stirring back into consciousness. Her vision blurred to maroon to yellow and eventually became acquainted with the well lit room around them. Disillusioned, she sat herself up and continued to wonder what was happening before the feminine face she had seen since exiting the box made herself known.

Aqua knew that the mysterious stranger she and her friends had encountered the night before would have awoken and needed introduction to the world they had just seemingly crash-landed in. As the newcomer slowly got themselves out of bed she looked around and yawned before speaking, “My head… Where am I? Who are you?”

“Your questions will be answered in time,” she answered. “For now, I need you to come with me and see everyone.” With that, she led the stranger away to a grand open room akin to the throne room of a medieval castle. She was astounded by the elaborate designs not only of the many stained glass windows surrounding them on all sides, but of the flaring surrounding them and the various arches much closer to them. Aqua introduced her friends Terra and Ventus first before pointing out the three chairs to one end of the room on two of which sat the elderly supervisors for the exam only minutes away. In the one on their right sat a bald man with a silvery goatee, dressed in black leggings and a black coat covering a white shirt. As the newcomer considered how suspiciously long his eyes rested on Ven, the other man (this time dressed mostly in white and with a full head of long black hair tied at the back complete with raven black moustache and a few gray strands showing his age) stood up from his chair on their left and took center stage, wordlessly commanding the attention of everyone present. Once confident everyone was focused on him, he addressed Terra and Aqua, “Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery.”

 _Well isn’t this quite something I’ve just arrived at_ , the newcomer thought. _The first thing I come across is a test for a right of passage. I might want to stick around._

The man continued, “Not one but *two* of the Keyblade’s chosen stand here as candidates, but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy- not a test of wills, but a test of heart. Both of you may prevail or neither.”

 _And heart is important if you’re like me_ , continued the traveler’s mental monologue. _Wandering from place to place and ending whatever issue is thrust at you along the way._

“But I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort…” He motioned to the still seated bald man, “Nor our newest arrival-” Now indicating the traveller they still didn’t know what to call.

Feeling all eyes were on her, she just said, “Just call me the Doctor.”

Somewhat taken aback by this curious being preferring to be addressed by a title, the speech resumed, “-did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark. I trust you are ready.”

The two candidates were much more relieved now they knew her name and so were quick to say, “Yes.”

As he drew his own weapon, similar to theirs, he declared, ”Then let the examination begin.” 

_That must be the Keyblade he’s been raving on about_ , the traveller now known as the Doctor told herself.

With this, he summoned numerous white orbs with a faint yellow glow, but seconds after the two drew their Keyblades, the yellow glow turned a deep shade of purple, a shade neither they, nor the speaker expected or were comfortable with. The Doctor immediately looked towards Master Xehanort who was now lowering his right arm back into his seat and starting to sprout a suspicious smile. As one of the orbs flew towards Ven forcing him into the fight in spite of Aqua’s attempts to dissuade him, the Doctor’s inner monologue resumed. _It all lines up_ , she thought, _But it could just be coincidence. After all, your reservations about him only began from blondie across the room. Is it that much of a jump to assume he’s trying to divide the three of them for personal gain or that he knew throwing a spanner into the works would endanger him? I suppose only time will reveal the truth._

After a while, the three Keyblade wielders cut down all the orbs in their path, prompting an evaluation of the encounter. The dark haired man began, “That was unexpected, but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances. It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold.”

“Almost in a very Albus Dumbledore kind of fashion, huh?” the Doctor muttered to herself taking great care to not be heard by anyone.

“Which brings us to your next trial,” the man resumed. Terra and Aqua, knowing what was next, took a few steps away from the center of the room in different directions.

When they had taken their positions, he said, “Now, Terra and Aqua, the two of you will face each other in combat. Remember, there are no winners, only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed.” 

The two took their combat stances and on their master’s word lept at each other. To the Doctor, it started reasonably enough with neither of them commanding the elemental abilities she had seen them use during the orb test and with Aqua playing aggressive in an effort to presumably break Terra’s stonewall defense. This seemed to work and she was able to swipe up and barely miss his nose after seemingly baiting him into pressing an attack, but it must have snapped something within him because purple energy akin to the second glow of the orbs began to emanate from his left wrist as she was going in for her next attack. Terra did realize what was happening and stopped it before going in to defend again, but even so, the Doctor noticed it. Looking back to the two masters, she saw (or thought she saw) that smile of Xehanort’s again. _Is this what he wanted?_ She wondered. _For that new energy from the orbs to infect one of the three and spread to the other two like a virus? Should I even still be here? Then again, you might be getting ahead of yourself. Remember what you keep telling yourself; hate is always foolish and love is always wise. And anyway, it’s quite rude to duck back to the TARDIS without permission._

Their combat continued a few minutes more until the masters stood up and called a halt, having apparently come to a conclusion. “Terra, Aqua, you both performed commendably,” the dark-haired man announced. “However, only Aqua has shown the Mark of Mastery. Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check.” _Is that what metastasized into that energy from before?_ The Doctor wondered. “But there is always next time,” the man concluded, “That is all. Aqua, as our newest Keyblade Master, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction.” With that, the two old men took their leave. As the Doctor took that as a sign of permission to learn a way back to her box, Ven joined Aqua in an attempt to comfort Terra. However, he decided it would be better for him to cool down on his own.

As Terra opened the main door to get some fresh air, he caught sight of the Doctor looking off into the distance. Curious, he approached her. Hearing his footsteps but not turning to look, the Doctor said, “You know when I want to cool down, I often look for the closest natural vistas and take in their beauty.” Finally turning when Terra was right next to her, she continued. “I like to use those moments to collect my thoughts. About things like that exam. That guy overseeing it, what was his name?”

“Master Eraqus,” he replied, “He trained me to do the duty of a Keyblade Master.”

The Doctor looked at him, inquisitive. “Which is?” she said.

The only reply Terra could muster was, “To travel the worlds and prevent them from being overtaken by darkness.” Even as he formed the words on his tongue, he felt somewhat hesitant.

The Doctor’s face seemed to relax a little. “Well that’s a very broad goal,” she said. “I do some of the same things as I wander, but I prefer to a: win with words and b: not let my personal biases interfere with my finding and achieving the best outcome possible.”

From behind them, the two heard an elderly voice say, “Words spoken with wisdom beyond your years, Doctor.” The two turned to see Master Xehanort standing at the foot of the stairs behind them.

The Doctor let out a sly chuckle before humbly asking him, “Who said I’m as old as I look?”

“Then you must understand that the darkness is nothing to fear.” Xehanort replied, opting for a more stern look this time.

“I’ve come to terms that negativity is not inherently invasive on its own, yes.” Any other time the Doctor might have thought it absurd to be agreeing with a suspicious individual, but having traveled with so many companions and having to defeat numerous adversaries for varying reasons, she began to become intrigued by the way people’s brains worked and what scales of morality applied to them.

“If only Eraqus was as nuanced as you,” Xehanort said, beginning to walk toward them. “By refuting it like this, Terra here could train with him forever and still never be a Master in his eyes.”

Almost on impulse, Terra began to press more, asking, “But why, Master Xehanort? Help me understand what it is that I have failed to learn.”

Xehanort’s attention was now focused on him. “It is not a failing in you, but in him,” he answered. “An inability to realize there is no destroying the darkness, only channelling it.”

At that moment, they all heard a bell tolling in the distance. Terra knew he had to go. “Before you leave,” the Doctor interjected, “you wouldn’t happen to know where my ship is, right?” Terra directed her and then took off. She turned to Xehanort and said, “Nice chat, let's have another sometime.”

As she began along Terra’s route, they barely missed Xehanort’s quiet “I know we will” before taking his own leave.

Aqua was receiving her newest instructions from Master Eraqus as the bell toll echoed throughout the citadel. Eraqus looked behind the chairs to a sparkling gemstone and started communing through it. As Terra arrived by her side, he asked what happened and where Ven was. She had been prepared to ask him about the latter alongside Xehanort and the Doctor. As their Master was talking through the gemstone, they figured they would get an answer soon. 

They needed not long to wait, for he was now turning back to them to deliver his next piece of instruction. “That was my dear old friend Yen Sid,” he began. "As you know, he is Master no more, but he still keeps a close eye on the tides of light and darkness. As such, his council serves as signposts on the road we wielders of the Keyblade must walk. All the more reason, then, for concern, for he tells me the Princesses of Heart are in danger. Not only from the forces of darkness, as you may assume, but also from a new threat- one that feeds on negativity. Fledgling emotions that have taken monstrous physical form- Yen Sid calls them the ‘Unversed’.” He gave each of them a reassuring look before continuing, “As wielders of the Keyblade, you are tasked with striking down any who would upset the balance of light and darkness. The Unversed are no exception. I tried to pass this news on to Master Xehanort, but my repeated attempts to reach him have failed. I doubt there is any connection and yet… this all troubles me.” 

This struck Terra the most as he was just talking with him and the Doctor. “Master Xehanort is gone?” he asked, with obvious bafflement in his voice.

Eraqus decided that they might now be somewhat motivated to take in his next words, “So here we are. I need you two to get this situation under control. Eliminate the Unversed and find Master Xehanort. I have unlocked the Lanes Between. You may use these forbidden pathways to travel between this world and countless others. Be on your guard, however. The darkness looms closer than usual within these spaces, but your armor will protect you. Lastly, remember that order must be kept. You cannot speak of the existence of other worlds to anyone you meet. Now go, and fulfil your duty.” 

“Yes, Master,” the two said. 

Eraqus then turned his attention to Terra, telling him, “You can consider this an opportunity. A chance for you to change my mind.”

“About what, Master?” Terra asked.

“You must know, I care for you like you were my son,” Eraqus answered. “If I could have my way, I would name you Master in a second. But how can I, when you are so obsessed with power?” And now he laid his hand on his student’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “Remember, you mustn’t be afraid of losing. Fear leads to obsession with power and obsession beckons the darkness. You must never forget.”

Filled with a reborn determination, Terra declared, “Thank you, Master. I swear, I will not fail you again.” 

“No, Terra,” Eraqus reassured. “Don’t fail yourself.” With that, Terra set off. As he left, a look of concern crossed Aqua’s face. Eraqus made note of this as he pulled her over to deliver what she assumed to be a side objective, one “of the highest priority,” as he put it. 

“When I told Terra this could be a second chance to show the Mark of Mastery, I meant it. However, that flicker of darkness he displayed during the examination- I sense it runs deep, very deep. If he were to-” And then he realized what he would have insinuated had he continued down that road, forcing a more diplomatic tone. “If those powers were to prove too much for him to handle, I want you to bring him back to me at once. It’s for his own good. I could not bear to lose any of you to the darkness."

In her heart, Aqua knew his reasoning was valid and backed up by how well he intended. “Of course,” she agreed. “I would never let that happen.” And she meant it, for although Eraqus was asking her to be not only his boots on the ground, but his assurance of contingency, she had the night before made a pledge that the three of them would always be together, a pledge that she had no intention of breaking any time soon. “I promise you I will bring Terra back, only this time, you’ll see he has what it takes to be a Master.” She then made her exit while assuring herself under her breath, “He’s not as weak as Eraqus thinks.”

As for Ven, he was in his room practicing when he heard the bell and was just about to leave when he heard someone say, “Better hurry, Ventus.” The owner of the ominous voice, a young man clad in black and red with a similarly black tinted helmet visor making his face impossible to see through it, waited for his undivided attention before continuing, “Or you’ll never see Terra again.”

“What? Get real,” Ven shot back, unable to believe the ludicrous claims being made. “I can see Terra anytime I want.”

“Like right now?” the stranger asked. “He’s leaving you behind and by the time you catch up, he’ll be a different person.”

“Look,” Ven defended, “whoever you are, you don’t know the first thing about Terra. Me and him will *always* be a team.” Despite the resolve in his voice, Ven felt he was trying to convince himself as much as he was the stranger. In an effort to suppress this unease, he raised his wooden training Keyblade in a defensive stance. “You trying to pick a fight or what?”

“Oh, how naïve you must be to call that friendship,” the stranger replied with a sneer. “You’ll never know the truth unless you go out and look for it yourself.” Knowing his desired effect was right around the corner, he continued, “Come on, what could you possibly know when you’re stuck here, looking at nothing but what’s in your tiny world?” And with that, the stranger took his leave through a dark portal that presumably he opened himself, leaving Ven to ponder. Thinking back to their time training together, he reassured himself that Terra would not switch on a dime and betray him, but he still had to make sure.

Running out to the main courtyard, Ven was able to catch Terra, albeit quite out of breath. Terra ran his hand through Ven’s hair and told him, “It’s okay,” with a reassuring smile just as the Doctor appeared herself. “I was hoping to run into some of you and say I was ready to leave,” she said. “Thanks for making it easier on me.”

“I was about to leave myself,” Terra replied.

The Doctor’s face lit up. “Oh, brilliant! Why not travel with me? You did say you did similar work to me.”

“I have my own orders,” he maintained. “I can’t guarantee that your box is big enough for more than just yourself or that we’re both going to the same place.”

“Terra, we need to talk,” Ven pleaded, his eyes telling the Doctor everything she needed to know to predict he would say it before he did.

“It’ll have to wait,” Terra said, standing firm. “I will be coming back, after all.” With that, he turned and pressed on the circular pad on the armor covering his left shoulder and in a flash, he now stood in a suit of armor coloured with various golds, reds and browns. He then raised his Keyblade into the air, creating a beam of energy that summoned a vortex above them. 

This struck the Doctor in a way that stressed her out. “Did you just tear open the Time Vortex? Because if you did, the natural forces of the time winds within could be chaotic and tear away at anything unprotected.”

“We never had any problems before.” She was somewhat surprised that his voice was mostly unchanged now that he was under a helmet. “And anyway,” he continued as he threw his Keyblade high until it came down as a rocket propelled flying vehicle for him to enter it with, “that’s what the armor’s for.” With that, he took off, leaving Ven and the Doctor to stare in a sort of stupor, though it didn’t last.

Quickly, Ven turned to the Doctor, took her by the arm and while leading her back to the box she came here in, told her, “You have to take me with you. You *have* to help me find him!”

“I only wish he used no compelling reason in his argument, but he has a point,” she admitted with a sigh. “Even if I was able to lock onto where he was going, something could go wrong and we end up miles off course, or worse, years.”

As they were approaching the box, Ven quickly put on the brakes so hard, he dug a half-inch hole before stopping. “What do you mean, ‘years’?” he asked before the realization caused his eyes to sparkle in a way she was expecting, but had not seen yet. “Are you saying you fly a time machine?”

As the Doctor produced a key from her pocket and slipped it into the keyhole on the door, she said, “Come and see.” As they entered with only small lights guiding their way, Ven pondered how such a small box could travel across space and time. When the Doctor clicked the switch for the main lights, he got his answer. They were now in a large room with circular patterns all over the walls and lights of various colours (predominantly blue and orange) shining down on them from numerous angles. There were three floors and three staircases, with rails connecting them to the main door. One going down, one on the right going up to a small mezzanine with a bookcase and blackboard close to the top, and the third was to the left leading into a hall that stretched for who knows how long. Standing proudly in the middle of the main floor (the one they had entered) was a hexagonal console surrounding a big glass cylinder that connected it to the floor and the slowly spinning circles in the ceiling and in which there were further cylinders containing a glowing energy of some kind. In front of the closest panel of the main console stood the Doctor with a triumphant smile across her face. “She’s called the TARDIS,” she said. “Before you ask, yes, it is an acronym. T, A, R, D, I, S, for ‘Time and Relative Dimensions in Space’.” Ven couldn’t believe his eyes. Noting this, she continued, “She’s been my gateway to all sorts of crazy places since our first adventure millennia ago, though any who ride shotgun immediately note one thing about her: she was engineered with transcendental dimensions, or to put it the most common way, if you want to look outside…" and with that she indicated the door that Ven quickly ran out of. Within the minute, he was back with an amazed expression on his face as he said the words, "It's bigger on the inside."

"So she is,” the Doctor said. “Now, you can seek Terra alongside me and run the risk of a mistake made or you can ask your master for permission to go alone. It’s your choice.” 

Ven didn’t need long to make his choice. He quickly raced outside the doors and like Terra, tapped the circular pad on his armored left shoulder to suit up in armor, this time with many metallic greens and had already shaped his Keyblade into his vehicle and taken off by the time Aqua and Eraqus arrived. Shaking his head, Eraqus told the Doctor, “You shouldn’t have let him go.”

Getting defensive, she said, “How was I to know? He’s what, sixteen? He can handle himself.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he stated, with genuine concern in his voice. “No matter, now he’s your responsibility. You have to bring him back."

“Don’t worry, Master,” Aqua said firmly before tapping her pad, this time on her forearm and suiting up in her armor, this time in numerous metallic shades of blue before rocketing after him. 

“Well I suppose I should go too,” the Doctor said, walking back to the TARDIS. “After all, someone has to keep an eye on things."

“I’m sorry you were troubled so shortly after a big crash, Doctor,” Eraqus consoled.

“I don’t mind at all,” she replied with a final display of glee as she opened the doors. “After all, what’s the point of life if you don’t live a little?” She then stepped in and closed the doors behind her and before long was at the main console turning knobs, flicking switches and pressing buttons, ending with pulling a lever which caused the spinning circles to start spinning faster and whirring other pieces of machinery around her to life. Outside, Eraqus heard the sound of the lever being pulled as it was punctuated with a somewhat loud **THOOMB** and then as the TARDIS began making some sort of wheezing, groaning, whooshing sound, the light in the middle of the roof began to flash as the box itself began to phase out of the physical spot where it stood since landing the night before.

As the TARDIS was dematerialising, Eraqus placed his hand on his chest, looked up to the sky where he knew his students and newest acquaintance were travelling across and said aloud, “May your heart be your guiding key.”

End titles:

Starring:

The Doctor - Lily James

Ventus - Jesse McCartney

Aqua - Willa Holland

Terra - Jason Dohring

Voice of Mickey Mouse - Bret Iwan

Yen Sid - Jim Dale

Eraqus - Mark Hamill

Xehanort - Christopher Lloyd

Young Xehanort - Benjamin Diskin

Dark Young Man - Haley Joel Osment

Music by - Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Original theme music composed by - Ron Grainer

Original theme music arranged by - Delia Derbyshire

Theme music rearranged by - Segun Akinola

Synthesisers arranged by - Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Orchestra arranged by - Murray Gold

Orchestrated and conducted by - Ben Foster

Title Sequence and Additional VFX - Ben Pickles

Visual Effects and Animation - Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Works, DNEG

Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics

Post production audio effect services - Skywalker Sound

Miniature effects - The Motel Unit

Prosthetics - Millennium FX

Executive producers - RedJLP, 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just because I'm telling the story differently, doesn't mean I'm talking influences and references no more, so let's begin. Firstly, why did I want Lily James to play this Doctor? The biggest thing that narrowed the field will be coming in a later episode and of those who remained, I decided on her because she's been in a relationship with the Eleventh Doctor himself, Matt Smith, since 2014. Before she appears though, I couldn't do much to the dialogue between the three. On the other hand, for the rocky landing from which she *does* emerge, I was obviously thinking about David Tennant's similar entrance in "The Christmas Invasion". The chaos on the inside, however, came from the sequence in Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach" wherein the titular fruit is rolling down the hill making a mess of not only the surrounding countryside, but the inside as well. Considering she was in a foreign land, I had her bring up the idea of Dumbledore adjusting his grand plan to herself alone because she was nervous no-one would get it. Within her inner monologue during the Terra vs Aqua duel, she also makes note of something Peter Capaldi said during his regeneration speech. You probably know what it is. Jump forward to the end of her moment alone with Terra and Xehanort and when she says "Let's have another chat sometime" and Xehanort replies "I know we will" came loosely from the opening to the first level of "LEGO Batman 2" wherein the Joker says to Lex Luthor, "Nice running into you, let's do it again sometime" and Luthor replies, "Oh, we will" as he begins to factor the clown into his plans. Another somewhat obscure quote that inspired a line here came just before Terra left Eraqus' sight. The line "don't fail yourself" sorta brings things full circle when you consider that Mark Hamill was cast for Nomura himself knowing him as Luke Skywalker and that line was said to his father Anakin Skywalker by Obi-Wan Kenobi during the end of the 2D animated Clone Wars show produced by Cartoon Network's self owned studio and helmed by frequent director Genndy Tartakovsky. Of course, how the story parallels "Revenge of the Sith" will dawn on the Doctor when it happens. Finally, the way in which Ven's introduction to the inside of the TARDIS mirrors Clara Oswald's in "The Snowmen" makes a lot of sense considering it was the 7B Matt Smith / Peter Capaldi interior I was thinking of while coming up with how to describe it.
> 
> Edit: Prior to releasing this, I missed a few grammatical errors and while correcting them, noticed a few characters I hadn't yet cast. Some of them being because I struggled to think of a good live action face for them. It wasn't for lack of candidates, rather too many good ones that I could spread across other characters yet to come. I especially struggled with characters that had yet to be seen in live action, such as Yen Sid (to my knowledge), a role which I gave to Jim Dale considering he had a) previously been in a Disney film (that being Pete's Dragon as Doc Terminus) and b) is the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks and could very well have succeeded the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore if he so desired. A limiting factor I imposed is that the actor must still be alive, else they wouldn't be physically able to appear in live action. This is why I went with Christopher Lloyd as Xehanort considering he already did so in Re:Mind and with Bret Iwan as Mickey despite preferring Wayne Allwine's performance up till his death.


	3. Pure Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terra is shown what the dark aura surrounding him may lead him to while Ventus and the Doctor save a damsel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't figured it out, to keep to the theme of writing a chapter like an episode, the individual summaries are intentionally made short so as to fit a similar role on a Netflix screen or the like.

Medieval flags of various designs draped down from the mighty walls surrounding a great castle. Usually the courtyard is bustling with activity and on this day in particular, the sixteenth birthday of their princess, such should have been the case tenfold. Yet when a portal violently opened to reveal Terra in his armour, there were plenty of citizens, albeit in a deep slumber. As a flash of light changed him into his basic attire, he found it curious that the only being seemingly conscious was some distance away from him and cloaked entirely in black, with horns to match. As he approached, the figure said in a darkly female voice, “Why aren’t you asleep, boy? I thought that fool Flora’s magic was all encompassing and very powerful.”

Terra was in no mood to play games, but found some semblance of comfort in finding someone to perhaps aid his mission. “Who are you?” he pressed.

Turning to face him, the cloaked figure revealed a pale face complete with purple above the eyes, purple lining along the inside of her cloak, a gold ring with an oval shaped black gem in it on her right hand and in her left, a bronze staff with a translucent green orb at the top. “Why, I am Maleficent as all who dwell in this Enchanted Dominion would know,” she answered. “Now *you* must reciprocate the introduction. So who are you?”

Deciding to be straightforward with her, he just said, “I’m Terra.” He then cut to the chase. “I’m looking for a man named Xehanort, have you ever heard of him?”

Her free hand moved to clasp the top of her staff as she looked out one of the windows overlooking the surrounding landscapes. “That name is not familiar to me,” she said. “Is he an outsider, like yourself? Well, I do remember someone leaving the castle.”

“Did he leave any clues as to why he was there or why he left?” he pressed.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she responded. “I can only be certain he was not from this kingdom, nor any in the immediate vicinity.”

Certain there would be clues somewhere within, Terra made his way to the great doors which lead presumably to the main hall, certain no-one would stop him. As he drew near, Maleficent interjected with, “Perhaps he did speak, about imprisoning ‘the light’.” This caught his attention and she would continue to hold it as she wondered aloud, “‘The light could be so many things. Could he have meant Princess Aurora?” Deciding that this “Aurora” could be the key to answers, he pushed open the door and entered the hall where again all was quiet, despite the population. 

He kept telling himself how eerie this felt until he reached the center of the room where in front of him appeared a slouching purple creature with red eyes and erratic movements. Quite soon he was surrounded by these as he realised what they were. The monsters Eraqus mentioned; the Unversed. As he drew his Keyblade, they were already pouncing.

Opening titles:

(0:08 - 0:10) 

Lily James

(0:10 - 0:12)

Jason Dohring

(0:12 - 0:14)

Jesse McCartney

(0:23 - 0:25)

Based on

The Kingdom Hearts video game series

(0:26 - 0:28)

Story Outline & Concept Design

Tetsuya Nomura

(0:30 - 0:36)

Pure Innocence

written by RedJLP

As Terra cleaned his Keyblade of the essence of the monsters he had just fought, he was walking down a hallway of doors looking for the noted princess. When he came across one covered by a veil of shadow, he assumed that was the one as who else would these monsters be after? He raised his Keyblade at the door in question and the veil dissipated, allowing him to enter the room. This room was elegantly decorated for the time and it was clear a significant sum of money was poured into it. From the carpets on the floor to the dressing table and in particular the bed in which was a sleeping woman he figured was the princess. This woman reminded him of a younger version of the Doctor from the facial features and the colour of hair, but ever so slightly off. As he approached her, something felt strangely familiar, but he didn’t have long to ponder it as he heard from the other side of the room, “Her heart is filled with light, not the slightest touch of darkness.” He whipped round and quickly noticed Maleficent standing there, despite knowing that moments ago that space was empty. She continued, “Just the kind of heart I need.”

“For what?” Terra asked, knowing that one’s heart is necessary for their ability to function to remain intact.

“Imagine with me, the most glorious of futures,” she declared. “Seven of the purest hearts, each overflowing with light. When brought together, they grant the power to rule all worlds.”

This was when his defences began to rise. “What do you mean?” he questioned.

“Why, that key you hold,” she began, “the Keyblade, is it called?”

Realising that she was onto him, he drew said Keyblade and demanded, “Where did you learn that name?”

“That trinket is the only way to obtain the hearts,” she said, seemingly avoiding the question.

Terra had had enough. “No more games,” he snapped. “Where is Master Xehanort?”

“Impudence will get you nowhere, child,” she said, clearly surprised by his outburst, but still reasonably composed. “If you wish to learn more, you must retrieve the heart of Aurora.”

“And why would I ever want to do that?” he pressed.

“It’s not a matter of why, but of will,” she said. “In your heart, there is darkness just waiting to be awakened.” And with that she began bringing her hands around and around the orb on the tip of her staff, causing Terra to be coated in a green aura. 

He began to feel woozy and tried to fight it, saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” in denial. 

“Perhaps not yet,” she said, “but I have power over sleep. And I can awaken what’s inside you, so you may be free to be who you truly are.”

In his mind, he began to play out some of Master Eraqus’ teachings. Phrases like “Remember that darkness lurks in every heart”, “Darkness is our foe”, “Would that we could be rid of it", "you must destroy it” and “push the darkness down- give it no quarter in your heart” came to the forefront. In the meanwhile, he was powerless to stop his body using his Keyblade to extract an orb of light containing the heart-shaped soul that Maleficent wanted. As she gloats about how she had waited for this moment since the princess went into hiding, she failed to notice that Terra had regained his senses until after she said, “To think that all he spoke of was and will be true.”

The next thing she heard was, “What did I do?” from the direction of the bed. It was Terra, now seemingly back to normal. “What did **you** do?” he demanded.

“You speak as if I pulled some invisible strings.” Disturbingly, Maleficent maintained her calm composure. “No, you couldn’t be further from the truth, child. I simply whispered to the darkness you already had inside.”

Terra felt his hands gripping the bed sheets underneath his fingertips. “How could I?” he blurted out, before the sleeping figure of the princess reminded him of Ventus.

“Yes,” Maleficent said as she advanced toward him. “Now, you want to know where Xehanort went. That I cannot answer for he disappeared into the darkness. Though now I know the Keyblade is necessary to gather hearts.” She extended a hand to him as she said, “Join me. Collect six more hearts of pure light and rule all the worlds at my side.”

“You seem to be mixed up,” Terra said as if to try and amass confidence, “I’m a peacekeeper, not a tyrant.” His confidence begins to waver as the ground shakes beneath his feet.

This causes Maleficent to scoff at him. “For a peacekeeper, you’re off to an exceptionally poor start,” she noted. “Remember this; the darkness in your heart cannot be held back by force or strength.” She then walked towards the nearby fireplace and said, “Now, my work here is done, as is yours. Wasn’t there someone you needed to chase?” As he charged forward to try and attack her, she raised green flames from the kindling and let them consume her without even flinching. In an instant she was gone. 

Another unsteadying rumble caused him to realise, “The Unversed, they’re going to bring down the castle. I have to do something.” He then rushed down the hall, sped down the stairs and as he entered the main foyer, came face to face with a massive creature bearing the insignia of the Unversed and resembling a huge white spinning wheel. Terra found it curious how and more importantly, why such a deadly adversary would choose such a form, but drew his Keyblade and prepared for combat nevertheless. Multiple times, the creature would spring itself back and throw its wheel at him only for him to leap out of the way and dash toward it and close the gap. Others saw it using its spindle like a pike and jabbing it at him only for him to deflect the attack with his Keyblade and go in for a brutal uppercut.

After a while, he wore it down and slew it, before making his way back to the princess’ quarters to reminisce. “It’s my fault her light was taken,” he told himself. “If only I were stronger… I’m sorry. I will get your light back, once I learn to stand up against the darkness.” As he left the castle he thought to himself, _Why would Master Xehanort imprison the light?_ To answer his question, he knew the purest hearts of light Maleficent sought would be his best lead.

He wasn’t the only one to have thoughts as he departed. From the top of a tall tower in the castle, Maleficent said to herself, “Seven pure hearts, each completely void of darkness. Such a search may take some time.”

Of all places, another castle had to be the next place for Terra to land. This time, it was inside the actual castle and close to a very interesting room. In this room, a woman in very regal attire (very clearly the Queen of the sovereign state) walked up to a seemingly innocuous mirror of elegant design and commanded, “Spirit of the Magic Mirror, come from the farthest space.” As she spoke, the wind began to howl around the room as lightning flashed within the mirror. She continued, “Through wind and darkness I summon thee, speak!” On that final word, fire rose from the bottom of the mirror and as she said the words “Let me see thy face.”, the flames and other weather abnormalities dissipated and in the mirror was not her reflection, but a pale face with empty eye sockets like a mask.

“What wouldst thou know, my Queen?” the face asked.

“Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” she consulted.

“Famed is thy beauty, Majesty, but hold, a lovely maid I see,” the mirror replied. “Rags cannot hide her gentle grace. Alas she is more fair than thee.”

A frown crossed her brow, for this was not what she wanted to hear. “Alas for her,” she said. “Reveal her name.”

“Lips red as the rose,” the mirror described, “hair black as ebony, skin white as snow-”

She needed to hear no more for she realised it was describing her own stepdaughter, one who she feared would reach this point.

As Terra listened, he saw the use of such a powerful artifact in his mission.

“The heart of Snow White doth shine bright,” the mirror continued, “beware, my Queen, a heart of light.” Terra inhaled sharply for he realised that if another pure heart was here, then surely Xehanort had passed through. He had just come to this conclusion when he heard, “Who goes there?” Clearly the Queen had noticed his sharp breath.

 _She knows you’re here now,_ Terra decided. _Better make myself known._ He then stepped out of the shadows and announced himself to her. “My name is Terra,” he said. “I’m looking for a man named Xehanort, Master Xehanort. I thought you might have seen him.”

She brushed it away saying, “That name is of no consequence to me.” Disheartened, he was about to leave when she decided, “But, I do have a task for you. Succeed and I will ask the mirror where you might find this ‘Master Xehanort’.”

“And the mirror will know?” he asked.

The Queen looked down on him and snapped, “Do you dare question me?”

Terra thought it best to just get on with it. “What is the task?” he asked.

She chuckled before detailing her request, “There is a young maid who resides in this castle. Her name is Snow White. You will kill her and to make doubly sure you do not fail, will bring back her heart in this.” And with that she produced a somewhat small red box with dark blue artistry around the sides. The latch, fitting enough, was an orange sword with green gems at each point of the hilt coming into a similarly orange heart shape. 

Terra thought about this request and decided, “You’re after the hearts of light, too?”

“What I demand is her life,” she said. “I’ve had enough of her light.”

“What has she done to you?” he wondered.

“That is no concern of yours,” she bluntly replied. “Heed my words when I say that my radiance is all the light this kingdom needs.

Terra decided that the last thing he wanted to do was to anger her now else he would get nowhere. “Where can I find her?” he asked.

“Outside the castle, there is a glade of wildflowers,” she told him. “You are dismissed. Go now and seek her there.”

As he left, Terra took time to think about the details of this request. _A heart of light,_ he thought. _This Snow White is my best chance right now. Maybe she will lead me closer to Master Xehanort._ The box now in his hands caught his attention. _But what if I-_ he began, but then he considered the comatose body of Aurora and decided that one such instance was enough, more than enough.

Upon entering the glade, Terra had not even taken a step to actively investigate before spotting a figure matching the mirror’s description of Snow White humming to herself as she gathered a bouquet of flowers from the fields around her. As he approached, she heard his footsteps and turned to face him. When she looked up and saw his face, she reacted rather unexpectedly, maintaining a smile and simply saying, “Oh, hello. Who are you?”

“Aren’t you startled?” Terra asked, curious as to how she wouldn’t have such an instinctive human reaction.

She set down her bouquet and got to her feet. “Should I be?” she said with the most innocent expression he had ever seen. This innocence led to him realising that this is indeed the Snow White the Queen sought. “Is something the matter?” she wondered, interrupting his chain of thought.

Considering he now had the chance to interact with one of the hearts of pure light, he thought it best to draw attention to his mission. “Does the name Xehanort mean anything to you?” he asked.

“Why… why, no,” she responded. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that name.” As the disappointment of yet another dead end should he not carry out the Queen’s request began to weigh on his shoulders, Unversed started to appear and surround them. Despite Terra drawing his Keyblade and readying himself for combat, Snow White still feared for her life and fled into the nearby forest, despite Terra yelling at her not to go alone and by the time he had fought them off, she was already gone.

As the TARDIS engines echoed through the halls, the Doctor was in the walk-in wardrobe selecting an outfit for herself. As she went through the various options, she passed by all the outfits she used from her first to her thirteenth (technically fourteenth, fifteenth or sixteenth depending on who you ask) lifetimes, all lined up on coat-hangers. Her attention was then drawn to a black hoodie under jacket combination that seemed somewhat familiar. Given the circumstances she was in, she found it both appealing and practical, so she took them to the fitting room along with a matching pair of pants that were not too confining and enabled agile movements, but also stuck to the legs. When she emerged from the room, a few warbling sounds echoed around the room. The Doctor felt her hand rise to her forehead and then run through her hair. “Come on, it’ll stick this time, okay?” she said seemingly to no one. As the warbles continued, she pocketed a small metal cylindrical device from a nearby table before making her way back to the main room where the systems were starting to wind down. She had almost arrived.

Ventus was walking through the forest, his eyes darting from side to side until resting on a small cottage some distance away. As he felt himself being drawn to the cottage, he heard a strange noise from his right and a sparkle appeared in his eye as he saw the TARDIS fading into existence by the path. As the door opened to reveal her familiar face, the Doctor’s expression was one of utter disbelief. “The first face I meet and it’s just the one I wanted to see,” she said.

“Why’s that?” Ven wondered.

“Because just as I was leaving, Eraqus said he would not have permitted you to leave even if you had asked,” she said, trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

Even so, he still brushed it away by saying, “Oh, he treats me like a kid and doesn’t let me out as much as Terra or Aqua.”

“You do have a point,” she admitted, “there is a somewhat fine line between reasonable paternalistic care and full on paranoia.” Before she could have something else to say, the two of them heard a loud scream coming from down the path. “Friend of yours?” the Doctor asked.

Ven replied, “Let’s find out,” and took off with the Doctor pulling her hood up as she followed close behind.

Snow White was worn and shaken and she looked it. When she entered the forest, all she really cared about was escaping the monsters that had surrounded her. She was not at all expecting to have the creepy aesthetic overtake her and have the eyes in the trees scare her near to death, let alone all the various twigs, branches and other things her dress kept getting caught and otherwise damaged on while also leaving her bruised, cut and bloodied to a degree. As she cried into her hands, she didn’t notice the two pairs of feet striking the grassy ground until they were right behind her and the youthfully male owner of one asked her, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“These horrible trees,” she wept, “they tried to grab me.”

At that point, she became aware of a hand resting gently on her shoulder and when she turned to look, she saw it belonged to a blonde woman dressed in black. “Are you sure about that?” she asked. “The mood is creepy, I get that, but at least we should all maintain some semblance of common sense, right?”

“To be fair,” the young man pointed out, “we do tend to see things when we’re afraid.”

Noticing they did have a point, Snow staggered to her feet, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Thank you both,” she said. “I feel quite better now.”

Noticing how uneasy her stance was, the woman asked, “Can you walk?”

“I’m sure I’ll get along, somehow,” Snow replied.

“Nevertheless,” she noted, “your wounds are gonna need some tending to. We can get you to a house up ahead where you can seek shelter.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Snow said, “Oh, thank you miss…?”

“Doctor, actually,” she replied.

“Doctor who?” Snow pondered, perplexed.

“Just ‘Doctor’, thank you.” she answered before indicating her companion and saying, “This is Ventus.”

“Please,” he said, “just Ven.”

“Ven, right,” the woman now known to Snow as the Doctor conceded. “And you are?”

“Oh, how silly of me. I’m Snow White,” she replied. 

Upon hearing this, the Doctor seemed to tense up a bit. “Okay,” she said uneasily, “let’s go.” The three of them then walked away with Ven up front and the Doctor sticking closer to an almost limping Snow to make sure she could keep up and that he would maintain a reasonable pace by taking the two of them into account. As they continued, more of those purple creatures Snow saw outside the woods appeared and she started to panic. As Ven drew his Keyblade, the Doctor pulled Snow’s arm around her shoulders and told her, “Time to go. Come on, lean on me.” As she felt the pressure of Snow’s weight increase as the instruction was carried out, the Doctor took that cylindrical device and caused it to make a buzzing noise as she waved it like a wand in the direction of the one closest to them, before pulling it back to herself and seemingly studying it. “Negative, wegative,” she was heard to mutter as she led Snow around the creatures Ven was keeping occupied.

As Ven and the Unversed fought, the Doctor led Snow to the cottage and the first thing the latter had to say was, "Oh, it's adorable! Just like a doll's house." Taking that to mean she was happy with it, the Doctor led her towards the front where the two took an opportunity to investigate, first via wiping dust from the window and then by the front door. “I don’t suppose we should knock?” Snow asked. 

“It’s worth a try,” the Doctor admitted, “After all it is common courtesy.” The two each gave the door five quick knocks before deciding there was nobody home. "That explains why it's so dark in there," the Doctor decided before pulling out that device again and aimed it at the keyhole.

“What’s that?” Snow asked curiously.

“My sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor declared proudly. “Useful for undoing bolts as the name suggests, but also good at scanning, hacking and-” she opened the door before saying, “-picking locks.” Snow found herself in a stupor being confronted with technology beyond her, but nevertheless allowed herself to be led inside. The room the two now found themselves in was rather small, but there was a stairway on the left leading up to another. “Is anyone home?” the Doctor called. “You don’t mind if we shelter here, right?” The air was full of deathly silence.

“If there’s no one here, what do we do?” Snow asked.

The Doctor brought her hand to her chin. “Well,” she thought out loud, “the considerate thing to do would be to return the house to working order. Sure, all the important furniture is here, but it’s dusty. And why would you leave your dirty dishes on the table and not by the sink?”

Snow gasped, surprisingly dramatically, even for the Doctor’s standards. “What would their mother say?” she asked.

The Doctor began running her sonic screwdriver along the walls, looking back and forth between the two. “To assume that these are children still living with their mother is a bit of a stretch because the woodwork seems to be hand done, nothing arcane about the construction at all,” she decided. “As a princess I doubt you’ve seen any female, trans or even crossdressing lumberjacks around here.” She started to snigger at the last one. Snow stared, absolutely baffled by what her saviour was talking about. The Doctor seemed to realise this might not be the time for such jokes as her face quickly changed and she sprung into action. “Alright,” she cried, “you can take the upper floor, I’ll get started down here.” Before long, she had fished a brush and pan from the TARDIS and had started working. A few minutes later, Ven opened the front door. The Doctor was pleased to see him. “You wouldn’t mind lighting the fireplace and the little lamps?” she asked. 

It didn’t take long for him to do it with his Keyblade in hand. “Where’s Snow White?” he asked.

“She’s upstairs,” she replied. “We decided to fix up the house while the owners were away, but those monsters could come back. You should give the area a sweep just in case. Who knows, you might find some useful stuff.”

Upon entering the mirror room once more, Terra was greeted with disdain. “How dare you return here empty handed, you blundering fool?” the Queen barked.

“What are you talking about?” Terra asked innocently, feigning ignorance.

Fire began to dance within the Queen’s eyes. “You were commanded not to return without Snow White’s heart!” she coldly said.

“A request I chose to ignore,” Terra said bluntly. “You claim to be radiant, yet all I see are shadows of jealousy hanging thick from your own heart.”

Now consumed by her fury, she declared, “You will pay for such insolence!” She turned to the mirror and ordered, “Magic Mirror on the wall, consume this fool, once and for all!” 

Terra drew his Keyblade waiting for something to happen, but all the mirror did was say, “Alas my liege, that I cannot do. I have no power, save answers true.”

This infuriated its mistress beyond belief. “You dare defy your Queen?” she cried. Deciding to further motivate the mirror, she threw a spherical glass beaker at it, coating it in the lime green liquid inside. The mirror then began emanating a bright glow that had Terra quickly shielding his eyes, which did little to save him from being enveloped by the aura and consumed by the mirror until there was nothing left of him. Within ten minutes he was back and face to face with a shocked Queen. “How did you escape?” she asked, trembling.

Terra took advantage of the shaken state she was in to get what he wanted. “Now, you will ask the mirror,” he demanded. “Where can I find Master Xehanort?”

Her fists clenched and she growled in obvious denial, but she still turned to the mirror in defeat and commanded, “Magic Mirror, instruct this knave! Give him the answers he doth crave.”

Without hesitation, the mirror responded, “Beyond both light and dark he dwells, where war was waged upon the fells.”

“Is that all?” Terra asked, particularly dissatisfied with his answer being a riddle. The face in the mirror maintained the stern look it had always shown, even when he was dragged into its domain. He would have liked a more straightforward answer, but realised he could figure it out much faster if he consulted a creative mind like that of the mysterious Doctor. “Thanks,” he said. “You’ve been a big help.” He then walked out to pursue this new lead.

Light comes through the door at the top of the stairs as the Doctor slowly opens it, intending to give Snow White enough time to ready herself before entering. As she entered, she noticed the princess’ attention was focused on the beds that surrounded the room. “How’re you doing up here?” she asked.

“I was just finishing up when I noticed these carvings on the front of the beds,” Snow replied. When the Doctor looked, she noticed a word carved into the front boards of every one of the seven small beds. From right to left, she recognised the words “Dopey”, “Sneezy”, “Happy”, “Doc”, “Grumpy”, “Bashful” and “Sleepy”. 

“Do you think these are the names of these beds’ owners?” Snow wondered aloud. 

“In that case,” the Doctor pondered, “I’d be curious as to the naming conventions for these people.” And then to herself she said, _After all, you’d know because you’ve been keeping your TARDIS’ translation circuit up to date and it’s not something that really goes wrong._

This train of thought was interrupted when Snow breathed a sigh of exhaustion and said, “I’ve had quite the day today and the beds look inviting.”

The Doctor then remembered why they decided to seek shelter in the first place. “You’ve definitely had a hand in that if the lower floor was any indication,” she observed. “Now you tuck yourself in and I’ll look at your wounds, see what I can do about them.” As she ran back to the TARDIS, Snow was laying herself across three of the small beds and drifted to sleep. Thankfully, she didn’t have that many wounds for the Doctor to dress with the limited amount of supplies she had at her disposal. This allowed her to finish by the time she heard a clattering of tools from outside. _The owners are back,_ she realised. With little time to prepare for their arrival as they had no doubt realised someone had made themselves at home, she raced under the sheets of the three beds opposite Snow, trying to make the finished product look as inconspicuous as possible.

Before long, the creaking sound of the door alerted the Doctor to where they were and the groaning from across the room meant that Snow’s sleep had been somewhat disturbed by their investigation. She remained as still as a mouse knowing their attention was focused on the sounds of a drowsy princess. Within the minute she was hearing cries of "Well…", "What is it?", “It’s a girl!”, a somewhat slurred "she's mighty purdy", "Just like a angel" and one or two other excited statements, but the one that caught her attention was when one of them said in a very gruff voice, “Angel, bah! She’s a female and all females is poison, full of wicked wiles.” 

She wanted to jump up and punish him for this view, but decided it would be much better for her to stay still when she heard a lighter voice ask, “What *are* wicked wiles?”

“I don’t know,” the gruff speaker admitted, “but I’m agin ‘em.”

The next thing she heard was a shushing sound and then one of the first voices saying, "Not so loud, you'll wake her up." Clearly this was an authority figure trying to maintain discipline within the others. 

Clearly the gruff guy wasn't opposed to challenging authority as the next thing the Doctor heard was him saying, "Ah, let her wake up! She don't belong here nohow."

Their voices started getting panicked and the Doctor decided to use the commotion to raise her head a bit to get a better view. The first thing she saw was Snow rising from the beds which was clearly what caused the panic. Stretching, she had groans emerge from her mouth before clearly saying, “I wonder if our hosts are-” The Doctor’s eyes followed hers to a peculiar sight to anyone that didn’t see the kind of things she saw, seven beanie-like hats atop the heads of seven small individuals. Snow gasped and then pulled her sheet over herself. As the small beings dropped to the floor, the Doctor felt another facepalm coming. Slowly they returned to within Snow’s line of sight allowing her to realise, “Why, you’re little men!” As they exchanged looks with one another, she chose to get the pleasantries out of the way sooner rather than later, asking the dwarves, “How do you do?” This question seemed to confuse them and their looks to each other this time said it. “I said, how do you do?” she repeated.

“How do you do what?” the gruff voiced one, in the middle of the group, pushed, clearly wanting this done quickly.

From behind them the men heard, “What indeed.” They quickly turned to see the Doctor with her hood up and almost to her feet as she continued, “All that matters is that you respond to the greeting.”

“And I’m so glad that you did,” Snow said. “Now don’t tell me who you are, let me guess.”

“If the inscriptions on these boards are any indication,” the Doctor pointed out, “you should know what to look for.”

In no particular order, she looked at a dwarf and picked the best name from the beds that suited each one. When she had gone through four and got to the one with the beaming smile, he could tell what she was going to call him and said, “Happy, ma’am. That’s me.” Pointing at the dwarf to his left (the only one without a beard), he introduced, “This is Dopey, he don’t talk none.”

This caught Snow somewhat off guard. “You mean he *can’t* talk?” she wondered.

“He don’t know,” the one now called Happy responded on his behalf. “He never tried.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Snow said, before resting her eyes on the one dwarf yet to be named, the gruff voiced one in the middle. Both the process of elimination and the way he sulked throughout this process made it obvious. “Oh,” she said in her best attempt at a deep voice. “You must be Grumpy.”

The other dwarves found this display somewhat humorous, but the one now known as Grumpy seemed to want to get straight to the point. “We know who we are,” he said. “Ask them who *they* are and what they’re a-doin’ here.” 

The one called Doc raised his right index finger presumably to communicate his authority to the two women on either side of him and his company. “Yes, what are you and who are you doin’- er, what are you-” Clearly his tongue was all flustered as he couldn’t get his words straight before ending on, “Who are you, my dears?”

“I suppose now isn’t the time to dilly-dally, eh?” the blonde said. “I’m the Doctor and that’s Snow.”

Doc seemed to have his eyes pop out of their sockets from behind his glasses when he heard the latter name. “Snow as in Snow White?” he asked.

Catching onto what he was insinuating, the rest of his company said, “The princess?”

“The one and only, it seems,” she replied.

“Well then, my dear quince- er, princess,” Doc began, “We’re…” He hesitated, searching for words.

“Honored?” the Doctor attempted to fill.

“No, we’re mad as hornets!” Grumpy cried. “And the sooner you two get out, the better.”

“That may take longer than you might like,” she noted. “If you’d care to look, I can barely keep her together, physically and mentally.” She indicated the haphazard attempt at worst to clean Snow up and dress her wounds.

“How about a compromise, then?” Snow suggested. “While we’re here, we’ll keep house. Wash, sew, sweep, cook-”

That last one caught the dwarves attention. Doc was the most excited, asking, “Can you make dapple lumpkins- uh, lumple dapplins?”

On either side of him, Grumpy and Sleepy visibly cringed and told Doc, “Apple dumplin’s!”

“Yes,” Doc said, “crapple dumpkins.”

Snow held a hand up and said, “I can do that as well as plum pudding, gooseberry pie-” She was cut off by the audible ellation emitted by the dwarves at the mention of such desserts.

“I can definitely feel some enthusiasm in the air,” the Doctor said. She extended her hand to Doc before asking, “What’s the verdict, then? How do you find these terms?”

He took her hand and started shaking it vigorously, saying, “We have a deal!”

They all heard a hiss outside which caught the Doctor’s attention. “Oh, for God’s sake!” she cried, rushing to the cauldron sitting above the fireplace on the main floor. She lifted the lid, causing steam to fly into her face. As the dwarves looked down from the stairs, they took a moment to smell and observe what she was making and realised, “Soup.”

As Snow followed them down, the front door opened and as he stepped through it, Ven declared, “You won’t need to worry about those monsters for a while now.”

The dwarves immediately focused on him as Grumpy said, “Couldn’t stay away, could ya? Who invited you in, ya rotten thief?”

“Thief?” the Doctor asked, somewhat astonished. Her head drooped down as she asked Ven, “What did you do before I found you?”

“I’ll tell you what he did,” Grumpy cried. “He found our mine and could have picked it clean!” 

Ven sighed before saying, “But I didn’t, did I? All I did was ask about Terra.”

“Right,” she said, relieved. And to the dwarves she said, “Is it so bad if one guy is asking about his friend?”

“Especially when he was with the Doctor when she helped me out of such a frightening situation,” Snow interjected.

The mention of a situation causing her fright caught the Doctor’s attention. “Care to elaborate?” she asked.

“Well,” Snow began, “I was picking flowers by the wood, and there was a stranger there. He had a sword, but it was like a key- and then these monsters came and-”

“That’ll do,” the Doctor said. 

Even with her vote of confidence, Doc’s defences raised. “Ya mean this stranger saw ya and set his horde of evil demons after ya?”

“If the time we first met Snow in the forest is any indication,” the Doctor interjected with her eyes glued to her sonic, “they could just pop out erratically. That said, there may be certain things they may be attracted to, whether at the command of a higher power or not.”

“A higher power that Terra would *never* want to be,” Ven cried.

“If he’s a friend of yours,” Snow said, “I’m sure he wouldn’t.”

“Mark my words,” Grumpy warned, “how trusting the three of you are is gonna come back to bite you someday.”

The Doctor held up her hands and said, "Oh, I'm sure. After all there's no stopping the inevitable."

Ven then made his way back to the door declaring, “Even so, I’ll prove my faith!”

As he ran out, the Doctor sighed. “Young and headstrong,” she was heard to mutter. Raising her volume to a typical speaking level, she said, “Snow, the content of the cauldron is only the first course. I’ll get the second out in a bit, but you’ll have to not only make the dessert but take charge of working this.”

“What about you?” she asked.

Looking outside, the Doctor simply responded, “He and I need a chat.”

She caught up with him at an exit of the forest that opened into a glade of wildflowers. “Darn your faith in him,” she said, panting for breath. “It might get you killed one day.”

“At least I’d die defending the honor of one of my oldest friends,” Ven retorted, still with his Keyblade in hand. He then felt something brush against his foot and looked down to see a bright red apple. 

The Doctor took a look at it and tensed up. _This is it,_ she said to herself. _The infamous apple meant for Snow._ She raised her foot above it and brought it down forcefully enough to smash it had Ven not swiped it from beneath her feet.

“Why would you do that?!” he cried.

“Look at it, man!” she said. “No natural apple is this brightly red. What other red flags need be raised?”

Ven looked around and noticed an elderly lady in a black cloak holding a basket full of much more natural looking apples and decided, “At least let’s give it back and see her reaction.” Knowing there was no stopping him, the Doctor relented and allowed him to approach the old lady and say, “Excuse me, ma’am? You dropped this.”

She turned to look and saw the apple in his hand, causing her eyes to light up. “Why, thank you, my pet,” she said. “To tell the truth, I really don’t know what I would have done without that.”

“What’s one apple in a basket filled with many?” the Doctor pushed

“It’s a special apple for a special someone,” she replied laughing creepily to herself. Her attention was then drawn to Ven’s Keyblade as she said, “Haven’t I seen that sword before?”

Now it was his turn to have his eyes light up. “Terra has one,” he said. “You know Terra?”

“Oh, yes, yes…” she conceded. “That ruffian pointed one of those at me, asking about some ‘Xehanort’. My poor heart nearly stopped” Both members of her audience stood uneasy, but for different reasons. Ven didn’t think this was in Terra’s character, but the Doctor was much more interested in why he was out. She recalled seeing Xehanort before preparing the TARDIS for the journey ahead, but the questions now revolving around her head were how could he leave their starting point on such short notice, how did nobody have any clue as to where he was going and most importantly, why was all this happening?

This train of thought was interrupted by Ven asking where Terra had gone and the old lady replying, “I’m sure I have no idea,” and sighing before asking, “Must you all menace a poor granny so?”

This caught him off guard as he meant no ill will. “Everywhere I go there are people misunderstanding my intentions,” the Doctor told him. “It’s by no means uncommon.”

As she walked back in the direction of the dwarves house and by proximity, the TARDIS, Ven was left to question the validity of the old lady’s words.

End titles:

Starring

The Doctor - Lily James

Terra - Jason Dohring

Ventus - Jesse McCartney

Maleficent - Susanne Blakeslee

Aurora - Elle Fanning

Eraqus - Mark Hamill

Queen Grimhilde - Donna Murphy

Voice of the Mirror - Corey Burton

Snow White - Daisy Ridley

Doc - Warwick Davis

Grumpy - Binde Johal

Happy - Rusty Goffe

Bashful - Maxwell Laird

Sleepy - Nathan Phillips

Sneezy - Harrison Davis

Dopey model - Deep Roy

Additional voices and voice effects - Frank Welker, Dee Bradley Baker, Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs appears courtesy of Big Finish Productions

Dwarf casting director - Warwick Davis

Music by - Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Original theme music composed by - Ron Grainer

Original theme music arranged by - Delia Derbyshire

Snow White leitmotifs composed by - Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith, Leigh Harline

Original Sleeping Beauty score and leitmotifs composed by - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Theme music rearranged by - Segun Akinola

Synthesisers arranged by - Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Orchestra arranged by - Murray Gold

Orchestrated and conducted by - Ben Foster

Title Sequence and Additional VFX - Ben Pickles

Visual Effects and Animation - Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Works, DNEG

Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics

Post production audio effect services - Skywalker Sound

Miniature effects - The Motel Unit

Prosthetics - Millennium FX

Executive producers - RedJLP, 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first question that's probably on your mind is "Why start Terra with the meeting with Maleficent, and on the Castle grounds rather than outside the gates, no less?" Simply put, I found the lead in with the Unversed to be a bit lengthy and on TV you only have so much allocated time. This and my own difficulty in turning action scenes into words when they are often visual spectacles is why I focus on the drama and try to breeze through the necessary action scenes. My describing Aurora as a younger version of the Doctor was intentional, but you'll find out why in an episode or two. For the rest of that scene, the biggest change I had to make to account for no longer having to work within the confines of Square Enix's game software was for Maleficent to back into the fireplace and use it like the Floo network in Harry Potter. On the other side of that coin, I had to keep Maleficent rotating her hand around the tip of her staff because since the original movie it's been so iconic to how she casts. I also had to expand on the dialogue between the Queen and the Mirror to more resemble *their* movie counterparts. As for Terra, the words "enough, more than enough" ending his thoughts came straight from the end of "The Three Doctors" as a tribute to the first multi Doctor story. Over to the Doctor, I was somewhat disappointed that for Jodie Whittaker, they didn't run with the outfit from her reveal trailer so I thought I'd run with it here and have the hood actually be used sometimes. Knowing that blood was displayed in "The Black Cauldron", "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" and many episodes of the show, I knew for sure it wasn't as off limits as other mature things. Saying she was resting her hand on Snow White's shoulder was directly quoting Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" very shortly after Charlie finds his Golden Ticket. From when Snow first sees the dwarves' cottage to when she and the Doctor begin work on the house was inspired mostly by the original movie, with the absence of forest creatures to aid them. As for the screwdriver being able to detect arcane usage in the woodwork, the Doctor's seen enough to make her believe she needs it, even if thinking about it reminds her of the "Lumberjack Song" from the sketch show that introduced the world to Monty Python, the "Flying Circus". Again, from Terra's battle with the Mirror to Grumpy's "How do you do what?" I couldn't do much to. Describing Happy as "the one with the beaming smile" was something Walt Disney himself did during the original marketing push for the original '37 release of "Snow White". I deliberately omitted the scene where Ven first meets the dwarves for the sake of putting you in the Doctor's shoes regarding the recount. Speaking of her, I guess you can tell why I had her try to stomp on and crush the apple meant for Snow. Much like David Tennant in "the Waters of Mars", she remembers the rarity of those special cases like the "Empty Child" two-parter wherein Christopher Eccleston is able to win without anyone dying and for her, they don't happen often enough.
> 
> Now onto casting choices. You could tell from the last episode that if the actor who portrays the character in the games isn't afraid of live-action (or in the Mirror's case, work outside of games), it's only fair that they reprise the roles if possible. This is why I wanted Susanne Blakeslee as Maleficent considering very few big Hollywood names like Angelina Jolie ever partake in TV roles. With my limited knowledge of small actors to play the dwarves, I pulled most of them from the Goblin cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2, excluding Deep Roy who I know from multiple places as I do for Warwick Davis which is why he plays Doc and directs casting. The rest of the cast came from a thread on the Disney Wiki on Fandom.com started by user RebeccaTheSorceress for the purpose of throwing around ideas for who would play which character from the Disney worlds if KH were adapted for live-action. Some of them were certainly not going to be challenged like Elle Fanning as Aurora as they had done so before (specifically in Maleficent), but as before, those who I'm less sure have been made for live action elsewhere came straight from there and could be changed if someone has a better suggestion, which I suggest you leave in the comments or the original thread here: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Thread:743485


	4. The Glass Disguise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor uses something she hasn't used for a long while. This causes confusion for Terra and Ven as she now has no idea who she is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where it get's really wibbly wobbly and the showing of all my ambitions with this despite it being the first part in this, my very first two-parter.

It was readily evident as soon as the Doctor reentered the wood that it was a bad idea to not wait until Ventus was ready before leaving, because as soon as she was in one of the darker parts, she was immediately set upon by those purple creatures harassing Snow White. With no real weapons with which to fight them off, she was forced to flee for the TARDIS, though they did try to push down the door forcing her to strain every muscle in her being to get the door in a position from which she could lock it and set off. All was not well, as she would have liked as when she looked at one of the monitors on the center console and input her readings from the creatures to see where more were, she stood in horror as she realised they were everywhere in the immediate vicinity. _I might need to do something I haven’t done in a long time,_ she told herself. She rushed downstairs and grabbed an old pocket watch from a drawer behind one of the roundels, before staring down a headset that she knew she’d have to put the watch in.

Opening titles: 

(0:08 - 0:09) 

Lily James

(0:09 - 0:11)

Willa Holland

(0:11 - 0:13)

Jesse McCartney

(0:13 - 0:14)

Jason Dohring

(0:23 - 0:25)

Based on

The Kingdom Hearts video game series

(0:26 - 0:28)

Story Outline & Concept Design

Tetsuya Nomura

(0:30 - 0:36)

The Glass Disguise

written by RedJLP

The eyes of the woman shot open as she rose swiftly from bed. The idea of what she was about to see had her sweating profusely before she looked around and took in that she wasn’t in a blue box that was bigger on the inside, she was an ordinary girl in an ordinary abode, one that she had to sustain herself. She looked out the window and saw that yes, the Castle of Dreams was still standing proudly in the distance, so she decided to just get ready for her day and show no outward signs of her mess. She had just gotten dressed and washed all the sweat from her face as a mouse ran out of a hole in the wall of her room, very close to the floor. This mouse was dressed in a red sweater under an orange jacket, with a red hat and pair of shoes to finish. “Cinderelly! Cinderelly! Come on! Gotta flurry! Gotta flurry!” he yelled as he ascended one of her bedposts.

She knew if anyone else discovered a talking rodent, they’d quickly get out the repellant, but her situation was so dire, who else could she confide in? But to gain their loyalty, she also had to listen to pleas for help like this. “Now, now, Jaq,” she began, “what’s all this fuss about?”

“Somebody new in the house!” he cried. “Somebody never saw afore.”

“Okay, then,” she said. “Where is this new somebody?”

“In a trap-trap!” he cried “Down the stairs!”

“Oh, my word,” she said. “Well, that won’t be for long.” She ran down the stairs into the main part of the house. The house itself was a stately chateau, but after a tragic event found itself in a constant state of disrepair, one some could consider ramshackle.

Ventus was not happy with the way he had entered this world. He was expecting the outskirts of a town, not a rodent's eye view of a cage as he was given. Fortunately someone had come to his aid and that someone was more familiar than she understood as she raised the cage to a better height for her to work with and undid the latch to peer inside and show to him a face he knew as it said, "Fret not." 

"Doctor?" he asked, but his question fell on deaf ears because as soon as she saw him, her breath and her grip on the cage became unsteady, eventually leading to her dropping said cage with little regard for how Ven would take the fall. 

Noting her state, a mouse entered the cage and told her, "Mussa worry, Cinderelly, Jaq-Jaq rake it from here.” Turning his attention to Ven, he continued, “Now, now, now, look, a-little guy, rake a reasy. Notta worry ‘bout, we like-a you. Cinderelly like-a you to. She’s a-nice, very nice nice.”

 _Yeah,_ Ven said to himself, _I know._

“Come on now,” the mouse declared. “Zugk-zugk.” He led Ven out of the cage before saying, “Name-a Jaq-Jaq.”

“You can call me Ven,” the miniaturised humanoid said, “but she knows me as-”

“Ventus,” she finished as she held her hand up to her head as she pondered why he was here.

She would have had more time to ponder if multiple cries of “Cinderella!” from other rooms caught her attention.

“We’ll talk later,” she said to Ven. “For now, this house doesn’t run on intricately designed serieses of ropes and pulleys.” She then left through a nearby door.

“Zugk-zugk, Ven-Ven,” Jaq declared. “Needa southa? Aska Jaq-Jaq.”

“Well,” Ven began, “I guess she’s got her hands full.”

“Zugk, work, work, work,” Jaq replied. “Stepmothey keep-a Cinderelly busy *all* day.”

“She does like to do good,” Ven said. “Probably why she didn’t seem to mind much.”

“That’sa Cinderelly,” Jaq said proudly. “She work-a hard. Got a dream- *big* dream. Dream gonna come true.”

A smile crossed Ven’s face as he thought of Terra and the aspiration for the title of Master he shared with his peers. This gave him an idea. “Maybe you can help me find a friend of mine who dreams similarly,” he offered Jaq. “His name’s Terra. You seen him?”

“Eh- no, no,” Jaq answered. “Never saw Terra ‘fore.”

 _Ah, well,_ Ven told himself. _It was worth a shot._

Jaq then directed him toward a mouse hole from where he would have a tour of the house.

They stopped at the windowsill of the top floor where they sat and took in the view. “Who lives in that castle?” Ven wanted to know.

“That’s-a King’s palace,” Jaq told him. “Gonna be a big ball tonight.”

“I wouldn’t imagine the Do-” Ven stopped himself, despite how strong the resemblance was, “Cinderella going to something so fancy.”

They heard a door behind them and turned to see the woman in question enter the room. “Truth be told, it’s a special occasion,” she said, walking over to a corner and pulling out a wooden dummy on which was a pink and white dress fitting for such an event. “It was advertised as being in honor of his son, Prince Henry, but even if that didn’t sway anyone, it was also royally decreed that every eligible maiden is to be there, presumably no exceptions.” She would have continued, but once again cries of, “Cinderella!” from below stopped her cold. “Patience is a virtue,” she shouted back. “It would be wise of you to have some!” Turning to the two on her windowsill, she returned to her normal tone of voice to say, “Though expecting them to seems to just be wishful thinking.”

As she left, Jaq lamented, “Poor Cinderelly, she not go to the ball.”

This caught Ven’s attention. “Why not?” he asked.

“You see,” Jaq continued, “They fix her. Work, work, work, she’ll never get her dress done.” He would have been right, if only Ven didn’t notice an open scrapbook on a table next to the dummy. Using a spell that manipulated the wind for him to ride across to it, he saw that one page detailed all the improvements intended for the dress. His attention, however, was focused on the other page which showed among the other notes drawings of fifteen faces, two of them women, the rest men. 

As Jaq finished getting there himself, he noticed the blueprint and something clicked inside his mind. “Say, got an idee,” he cried. “Ven-Ven help-a Jaq-Jaq?”

“With this?” Ven asked, concerned. “Surely there are things we’d be missing.”

“Look around the house,” Jaq suggested. “Lotsa pretty, pretty things.”

“Leave that to me,” Ven said, taking charge. “You can get things set up here.”

Following a quick “Zugk-zugk” from Jaq, he leapt from the sill before he was warned, “Ven-Ven! Care-fee Lucifey!”

“Roo-sa-fee?” Ven wondered, knowing the mouse’s blatant speech impediment would inevitably cause miscommunication.

“Lucifey a cat-cat!” Jaq clarified. “Meany, sneaky, jump at you, bite at you.”

“Noted,” Ven said.

Comparing the plans to their supplies, the two noted that they needed six items. Five of them were not much of a challenge, but according to Jaq, “Still needs a pitty, pitty pearl,” and that was where Ven struggled as when he found it, it was lying in front of a sleeping cat. 

_This has to be the cat Jaq warned about,_ he told himself as he walked up, careful to minimise noise made. Knowing he had to be careful, he waved his hand in front of the cat’s eyes to see if he was really sleeping. When nothing happened, Ven’s instincts told him to just grab the pearl and sneak away. 

However, the cat was smarter than he seemed as when Ven grabbed the pearl and turned to escape, he opened one eye, then another, then got to his paws and wownd up to slash his newfound prey had Jaq not yelled in warning, “Zugk out! Lucifey!” The two looked in his direction and saw him holding a ball of yarn above his head with many more behind him. “Flurry, flurry, Ven-Ven!” he continued as he began hurling yarn in Lucifer’s direction. Despite having the high ground and projectiles, Jaq was on a table that if attacked by Lucifer with full body and force, could stagger him off, something the cat knew given how many times they did this before. Quickly, the cat evaded the yarn attacks and pounced, shaking Jaq off the table, leaving the mouse completely at his mercy. “Ooh, dat hurt…” Jaq said before looking up and cowering in fear expecting Lucifer to make it quick, but fortunately, Ven overheard the commotion and attacked. “Ven-Ven!” Jaq cried in relief.

“Take the pearl and run,” Ven instructed. “I’ll hold him off.”

“Zugk-zugk,” Jaq said as he did as commanded.

Focusing on Lucifer fully now, Ven taunted the cat with a call of, “Time to play, cat.” The cat began by charging forward and Ven evading as he led the beast like a rampaging bull into hitting a wall head first, leaving him stunned. This gave Ven the opportunity to leap onto his back and tug on the hair to get attention. It wasn’t long before he was shook off and vulnerable to attack and while he did come close to getting slashed to ribbons, he was quick to roll across the floor to escape. Clearly Lucifer had figured out this was no ordinary game of cat versus mouse as he leapt up onto the table and prepared for a belly-flop attack. Ven was also quite wise to the need to hold nothing back as he conjured a big billow of wind not only to catch the cat before being crushed beneath him, but also to hurl him toward a wall. With firepower like that, it wasn’t long before Ven was able to drive Lucifer away.

After the cat fled, Jaq stepped forward after having stashed the pearl away and said in congratulations, “Aw, rat’s a big ‘thank you’.”

“No thanks needed,” Ven replied. “You saved me before, so I saved you. That’s what friends do, right?”

“Zugk-zugk!” Jaq said delighted. “Ven-Ven, Jaq-Jaq are good friend.”

Ven cracked a bemused smile before telling his mouse companion, “Now, let’s get that dress done,” and running for the mouse-hole.

Some time later the dress was ready and the two decided to wait until the one it was made for returned to her room. When she did, she immediately set herself down on the bed and pondered. “What’s a royal ball, anyway?” she asked. “After all, it’s a formal gathering and they tend to be quite dull and boring, but you need a break from this slaving away day in and day out.” As she questioned whether or not she wanted to go in the first place, she heard a creak from where she left her ball gown and the doors opened to reveal it touched up in every way she wanted. When she looked down and noticed Ven and Jaq, she said in disbelief, “You didn’t.”

“We certainly did,” Ven declared proudly. "Consider it a present for all the good you've done. Now you can go to the ball."

She held the two in the palms of her hands as she said, “Thank you, both of you.”

“Flurry-flurry!” Jaq cried. “Time-a go, Cinderelly!”

“Yes, indeed,” she said as she set them on the windowsill and rushed the new dress behind a nearby screen for some privacy.

As they took in the view, Jaq let slip, “Jaq-Jaq hope-a Cinderelly’s dream come true. Wassa Ven-Ven dream?”

“Funny,” he said, "I never thought about it, at least until you asked me." and he was right. The closest thing he could recall was a time back in the Land of Departure when he was talking with Terra and Aqua. 

“Being a Master is all I dreamed about,” he had said.

“Well, you’re not the only one,” Aqua had replied.

“I know,” Terra had conceded. “You, me and Ven all share the same dream.”

Inspired by the memory, he drew his Keyblade and held it up declaring, “My dream is to become a Keyblade Master.”

Jaq stared in awe as he said, “Hope-a Ven-Ven dream come true, too.”

“I just need to keep on believing, right?” Ven asked while sitting back down and putting away his Keyblade.

“Zugk-zugk.” Jaq replied. The two then heard the rustling noises behind them end and turned to see the dress now on the woman it was made for. She gave a twirl and asked them, “Well, what do you think?”

“Pitty-pitty, Cinderelly!” Jaq cried. 

Ven’s attention was on the intricately decorated item hanging from her chain necklace. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing.

“Oh, this?” she said as she grasped it in one hand. “It’s an old pocket watch from my father, Sydney. On his deathbed, he told me never to open it until my way had been lost. I’ve been holding onto it ever since. Sometimes I like to keep it on my person as a good luck charm and tonight may just be one of those times.”

Ven looked down to his own lucky charm and saw where she was coming from. “Well, have a good time,” he said.

“Thanks. You too,” she replied as she walked out the door.

Lady Tremaine and her two daughters were to the front door, ready to go when she reminded them, “Now remember, when you’re presented to his Highness, be sure t-” But she never finished her sentence.

For the next thing they heard was a familiar voice from behind them saying, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s all well and good, but…“ They turned to look and saw the speaker in an elegant gown in various shades of pink. “... I was very surprised that I was able to finish my work on this *just* in time,” she continued. “So will it do?”

The two sisters’ shock at this statement was much more visible than their mother’s. On top of this, they turned to said mother and begged with lines like “She can’t”, “You wouldn’t let her” and others like that.

“Girls, please,” Lady Tremaine urged, stunning them into silence. “After all, we did make a bargain, didn’t we, Cinderella?” Following an affirmative nod from her addressee, she approached while continuing, “And I never go back on my word.” Right up close to her, the older woman looked once over the dress and noted, “How very clever.” Her eyes fell upon the ribbon tied around the girl’s waist. “This sash,” she said, “it gives it just the right touch. Don’t you agree, Anastasia?”

“Well, mother, I must say…“ the ginger began, before noticing what her mother was insinuating. “I must say she’s stooped very low to complete it.”

“I thought no one was using it,” she replied, backing up. “I thought I was the only one who could feel okay in it for a big event like this.”

“It’s still mine,” her stepsister cried as she forced it off, “and you have no right to it.” 

“What did you ‘borrow’ from me, then,” the other girl, a brunette, pushed. Neither one listened to any of the poor blonde’s attempts to defend herself as they began tearing the dress to shreds. 

On the contrary, they were yelling the whole time until their mother interrupted with, “Girls, girls, that’s quite enough. Hurry along now, both of you.” As the two took their leave through the door Lady Tremaine was holding open, she continued, “I won’t have you upsetting yourselves.” As she left with them, she took one last look at her stepdaughter and simply said, “Good night,” before closing the door behind her. Standing in the raggedy remains of what was once a ball gown, she felt her hand clench into a fist, but then decided it was pointless to take her frustration out on things that were no longer there. She then ran out into the back garden and kicked a stone bench with the sole of her foot before collapsing to her knees in despair knowing all the work Ven and Jaq did for her had been undone.

Having arrived in a new land, Terra looked around and took in that he was in someone’s garden. Not the best of places to enter from, but he’d have to make do. As he noticed a blonde, female figure hunched over a bench some distance away, he decided to help. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“So much work and so much time had been put into this,” a familiar voice said emotionally, “and then it all had to be for naught, didn’t it?” As she spun round to face him, she said, “I mean, look upon what’s happened to me!”

The face Terra was now confronted with was unmistakably familiar to him. “Doctor?” he asked.

Mentioning the name “Doctor” seemed to open the floodgates further as she tearfully said, “That’s the second time I was called that today.”

This hit Terra like a truck. “Who by?” he asked. “Master Xehanort?” 

“No,” she replied. “By another figure who, like you, I saw in my dreams prior. I get that I’ve been prattling on about dreams projecting your heart’s desires, but I must be some kind of escapist because having seen the harsh reality, the only part of my dreams that have and will come true is the people.” As she continued she returned to facing the bench. “No blue box, no adventures, no fancy soirees.”

Terra felt pity on this woman who reminded him so much of the Doctor. “Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart. You have to be strong,” he said, trying to be reassuring in his own way. “Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials.”

“Normally I’d find it funny how in my dreams, I’m the one who says such things,” she wept, “but I-” Terra then heard a disturbingly familiar sound cut her off as Unversed appeared from behind them. Deciding she was too important for them to have, he drew his Keyblade and fought them off. During the last moments, she watched in some kind of stupor.

She considered opening the watch miraculously still hanging from her neck, but a voice that reminded her of her own told her, _Not yet. Just a few more minutes._

As she pondered who might have spoken, her gaze fell upon a hooded being sitting on the other side of the fountain. Her curiosity got the better of her as she found herself approaching it. The Unversed would have been interested had Terra not been keeping them at bay. When she was right up close to the figure, she knelt beside it to look into the face she could now identify as female. “Are you okay,” the raggedy woman asked? 

“I just need something to eat,” the old lady in the hood answered. Operating on helpful instinct, the blonde turned and picked a piece of fruit from a nearby tree. As she did so, she heard from the fountain, “Are *you* okay?”

“It’s nothing,” she said, curious as to how she could trust her problems from a young man who, like Ventus before him, was previously just a figment of her imagination.

As she returned to the old lady on the fountain, she scoffed before saying, “‘Nothing’. What is a piece of fruit? Nothing, but heart and above all, kindness makes it everything.”

Somehow, this was raising the girl’s spirits. “I tend to say things like that in my dreams,” she admitted. “If only they were real.”

Curiously, the old lady’s reply was, “Well, you haven’t really got long to see that they are, have you?”

Her young audience stood stunned. Considering she almost never left the house, who would know her ins and outs? “How do you know me?” she pushed, “What do you know about my dreams?”

“What inde-” the old lady began, but they were interrupted by a strange sound drawing both of their attention to her hands. They were glowing gold. “You know what this is, don’t you, child?”

“M-More or less,” she replied. _She’s… regenerating, I think,_ she told herself.

“I’ll see you on the other side then.” In one near fluid movement, the old lady then threw the staff she was leaning on up into the air and then outstretched her arms while throwing her head back. At that instant, her arms and head exploded into a stream of golden fiery energy each. This energy was so powerful, it incinerated all the remaining Unversed and in realisation, Terra took cover while still being transfixed on this new phenomenon he was witnessing. When the energy dispersed, she had reverted to middle age and the staff had shortened and become an intricately decorated wand by the time it landed in her hand. “Now to complete the ensemble,” the newly middle aged woman said before waving her wand across as she brought it down from head to toe as her cloak became a white dress under a blue robe.

Her witness was amazed, even more so when she put two and two together. “Then you must be a Time Lady and a fairy godmother,” she said.

“Not just *a* fairy godmother,” the woman said, “but you can think of me as *your* fairy godmother even though in general, I am *the* Fairy Godmother. The original, you might say. Anyway, it’s time to get you ready for the ball. After all, you don’t have a ride.”

“Yes,” the still astounded girl said, “but nor do I-”

“One thing at a time,” the self dubbed Fairy Godmother interrupted. “Do you grow anything big?”

She thought before saying, “I grow pumpkins in that patch over there, though not for me.”

Looking at where her godchild was pointing, the Godmother decided, “It’ll have to do,” before flicking her wand to send an energy bolt in its direction. The cast burrowed into one of the bigger pumpkins, causing it to grow as it rolled out of the patch with the vines lashing out everywhere. Terra and the girl took cover behind the fountain as this bundle of vegetation began to take shape. Doors and windows were being carved into the outside, showing an interior being hollowed out of the inside while the vines shaped into wheels and other details. As it landed near her, the Fairy Godmother waved her wand like a conductor’s baton and the pumpkin became white with the vines completing their transformation into golden details and wheels. She looked over to her goddaughter and saw a look of amazement on her face. “Okay,” the magical being cried, “Now for something to pull it.” Her eyes wandered the garden and landed upon Jaq and three other mice, Gus, Luke and Bert. “Oh, you’ll make a fine company of horses,” she decided as she made her cast and within the minute changed the four into brilliant white horses.

As the girl approached the newly formed horses, she looked most impressed. “Well, well, lads,” she told them, “you actually don’t look half bad as stallions,” but then she turned to the Godmother and pointed at the barn saying, “but we already have a horse over there. Why not just use the Major?”

The Godmother retained her jovial composure as she said, “Exactly! Since he’s not likely navigationally challenged, he’ll be driving.” And with that, she waved her wand cloaking the horse in energy as he was being lifted towards the driver’s seat. By the time he was sat down, his human form was complete.

He did still need to get accustomed to it, but as he did, his passenger was trying to stifle her laughter. “Not used to opposable thumbs?” she asked jokingly. The now human Major only frowned at this. Her attention was now drawn to her biggest problem. “You wouldn’t mind mending this dress, would you?” she asked the Godmother. “It belonged to my mother, Verity, and wearing it makes me feel like a part of her is with me.”

“I can do you one better,” she replied. “Here’s a few additions of my own.” And with a wave of her wand, she sent sparkles running down the ragged dress that soon encompassed the whole thing as not only was the damage being undone, but the design was drastically uplifted, the pinks were becoming light blues and a shine was put on the whole thing. When it was all done, the Godmother said, “My best work yet, I dare say, but the footwear.”

“What’s wrong with it?” the newly dressed girl asked.

“Doesn’t quite have the same ‘boom’ feeling as the rest,” she answered. “Off with them, here’s something better.” With yet another wave, energy focused on the now bare feet and solidified in a way that disturbed the girl somehow.

“They're made of glass,” she noted.

“I was going for comfort,” the Godmother said, “and that was the best I could do.”

“Then just one last thing,” her goddaughter continued. “How long does it last?”

That’s when a look of concern set upon the Godmother’s face. “That’s the crucial part,” she said. “You have until the last echo of the last bell at the last stroke of midnight to get back before the spell wears off and everything returns as to what it once was.”

“Midnight,” the girl repeated to herself as she thought before deciding, “That’s more than enough time.”

A delighted smile returned to the Godmother’s face as she said, “Then why are we standing around and talking? You need to get a move on,” and ushered her into the pumpkin carriage and sent it away.

As she left, Terra reminisced, _She was so like the Doctor, and yet an abundance of light surrounds her. But it feels like it isn’t her own._ He turned to the Fairy Godmother and asked her, “What did you do? I can hardly tell she’s the same person.”

Now focusing on this strange young man, she asked, “Who are you?”

“Terra,” he simply answered.

“In your heart,” she continued, “do you believe that dreams can come true?”

“Yes,” Terra began, “but I also believe you have to make an effort to make them come true.”

“Yes, of course,” the Fairy Godmother accepted, “but sometimes just believing in dreams is easier said than done.” Turning to look in the direction the carriage left going, she continued, “Our mutual friend believes her dreams can come true and I wanted her to see that she is right.”

 _So that’s what made her shine through,_ Terra told himself. _Faith in her heart that anything is possible._

“I have a small favor to ask,” the Fairy Godmother said. “Watch over her.”

Terra held one arm across his chest as he said, “On my honor.”

“When you see her dancing,” she said as he turned to leave, “you’ll know that she believes, and that will surely help you to believe, too.”

Inside the carriage, she was beginning to feel doubts. “But what if I’m discovered? What if I can’t waltz? And especially, what if I don’t meet anyone who accepts who I am?” she asked herself.

Then that voice came to her again, so eerily like her own. _What if the beard of the one who fought in the Time War were made of green spinach? We both know you can overcome these doubts of yours if you have courage and thankfully, a supply hangs from your neck._ She looked down to her watch and was transfixed by the intricately designed face. _It’s time,_ the voice said. _Go on, give this world a Doctor, but I should warn you of what happens if you don’t._ She stared for a few more moments before being shown visions of her with the prince being happily married and having their happily ever after until Lady Tremaine comes across the Fairy Godmother’s wand and rewrites history according to her own image. Without that there were visions of Unversed (as Terra called them) wreaking havoc on places seemingly unfamiliar to her. 

As she weighed her options, she thought, “It’s best for everyone if I do it,” and opened the watch. In that instant, the watch face emitted that same golden energy from when the Fairy Godmother regenerated to reveal herself. As she inhaled the glowing energy, numerous flashes played out in her head making it clear to her that the Doctor had indeed returned.

End titles: 

Starring:

The Doctor/Cinderella - Lily James

Ventus - Jesse McCartney

Terra - Jason Dohring

Jaq - Rob Paulson

Lady Tremaine - Susanne Blakeslee

Anastasia Tremaine - Holliday Grainger

Drizella Tremaine - Sophie McShera

Fairy Godmother - Helena Bonham Carter

Unversed voice effects - Frank Welker, Dee Bradley Baker, Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs appears courtesy of Big Finish Productions

  
  


Music by - Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Original theme music composed by - Ron Grainer

Original theme music arranged by - Delia Derbyshire

Cinderella leitmotifs composed by - Mack David, Jerry Livingston, Al Hoffman

Original Cinderella scores composed by - Oliver Wallace, Paul J. Smith, Patrick Doyle

Theme music rearranged by - Segun Akinola

Synthesisers arranged by - Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Orchestra arranged by - Murray Gold

Orchestrated and conducted by - Ben Foster

Title Sequence and Additional VFX - Ben Pickles

Visual Effects and Animation - Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Works, DNEG

Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics

Post production audio effects - Skywalker Sound

Miniature effects - The Motel Unit

Prosthetics - Millennium FX

Executive producers - RedJLP,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've probably figured out that this is where the idea for this whole project came from: When I saw the "Family of Blood" two-parter and was introduced to the Chameleon Arch, I was like, "Kingdom Hearts is all about ensuring fixed points in time if you look that hard at the Disney worlds, so if a princess was absent for some reason, a female Doctor would have to step in." It was looking at Gamer's Little Playground's "chronological" edit of the story that helped me decide who to substitute. Even if I had gone with Aurora, I would have flipped the comparison to the Doctor to Cinderella because back in the '50s, the two had the same live-reference model: Helene Stanley. Anyway, the Mouse Latin (as it was called by the filmmakers back in the day) had to be written as such despite being subtitled in the game in English. I had to up the complexity of Cinderella's emotions and speech to remind viewers that even though what makes her a Time Lord is hidden in the fob watch, there is still a bit of Doctor in her brain. Considering how Mouse Latin was expanded in Disneytoon's first sequel, "Dreams Come True", I had to have Jaq address himself as Jaq-Jaq. There are multiple accounts as to the Prince's name, but the most official for the animated one and therefore the one seen in game is a French TV spot that calls him Henry. When I found this out, I knew what name I had to use. As for the dream journal, I could only use the fifteen official Doctors that have been shown doing something on screen. While I do use the DW2012 reason of "many regenerations have passed" to say it still works, I couldn't use any of their or other fan film Doctors as they may not appear in the main show, but since they have been given roles to do something in some stories, I could and did include Jo Martin's Fugitive "Ruth" Doctor and the late great Sir John Hurt's War Doctor. Since you aren't tasked with taking Drizella's necklace in Ven's chapter, I thought it better to replace it with the fob watch that the TARDIS had convinced her had come from her father, named (as he was in "Human Nature") for the man who greenlit the show back in the '60s, Sydney Newman. Similarly, she was also told the dress had come from her mother, named for the very first showrunner, Verity Lambert. Knowing that the essence of what made David Tennant a Time Lord spoke to one of his students to guide them both to the opportune moment to open the watch containing it and that Sir Derek Jacobi was transfixed by it before opening it and becoming the Master again, it didn't seem so farfetched for the essence to guide this Doctor to her own opportune moment. Considering that Fairy Godmothers are magical beings, I had to assume they showed themselves as the species of their godchild and so since Cinderella had dreams of being the Doctor, her Godmother would likely have figured out what was going on and following her test like that of the live-action film, shown herself becoming the fairy like she was regenerating. Back to the guiding presence of the Doctor's essence, I pulled her green spinach jab at Sir John Hurt directly from Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" before showing her a montage of things that happen in the Disneytoon films and a few other shots akin to what Galadriel's mirror shows Frodo in "the Fellowship of the Ring" with Unversed instead of the spawn of Mordor.
> 
> To casting, I don't know how willing Helena Bonham Carter in particular would be to reprise a Kingdom Hearts version of her role in the 2015 movie for TV, but the rest of the new cast from the same film are definitely no strangers to the small screen. When casting Susanne Blakeslee, I wasn't aware that her live-action resume only contained theatre roles, but considering her televised voice resume, I still wouldn't put it past her to mesh the two and take on live action roles for television, like doing the other part of filling in for the late Eleanor Audley who not only did the voice of both Maleficent and Lady Tremaine back in the '50s, but provided their live-action reference as well.


	5. The Fairytale Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes wrong at the castle as the Unversed attack, some of them through faces close to the Doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand this took a long time to put out, but I had a lot of behind-the-scenes problems that took up the bulk of my time. I still never lost sight of my vision and finished it for your reading pleasure.

From her perspective up to this point, everything went by very quickly. The day started with her as Cinderella meeting a miniaturised Ventus who then proceeded to aid her mouse companion Jaq in touching up her ball gown, one that was promptly torn to shreds by Lady Tremaine’s daughters while they were all under the impression she was their stepsister. All she had to take that kind of frustration out on was a stone bench before Terra arrived and saved her from a platoon of Unversed, allowing her to prove herself to the Fairy Godmother by helping her in turn. In return, said Fairy Godmother gifted her with the extravagant means by which she’d fit in with the other guests. What would not sit well with the other guests was the memories she now saw flashing before her eyes. First as an old man in black addressing a man and a woman who looked as though they worked in academia by asking, “Have you ever thought what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles?”

Then was an unearthly, clownish hobo consoling a young girl by telling her, “Our lives are different to anybody else's. That’s the exciting thing: that nobody in the universe can do what we’re doing.”

She wasn’t quite clear on whether the lady in navy blue she was now seeing was supposed to be there, but one thing was for sure, her addressee was yet to come and being told, “I know this place has blown your mind, maybe you should return the compliment.”

She was much more sure that the dandy following her was in his proper place and very inspiring in his words, “Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.”

“First thing’s first, but not necessarily in that order.” Sometimes, what this, the one with all teeth and curls, had to say confused even her.

Just as elusive was how many times the cricketer she now saw said, “Brave heart, Tegan.”

Now she was the curly haired fashion disaster on the floor of his TARDIS saying, “I hope the footprint I leave will be light, but apposite.” She knew that feeling, the one so close to regeneration, you feel compelled to wish the next incarnation well.

On her feet again now, she was the short one in the hat as she eyed the umbrella nearby, hit a few buttons and cried, “Across the boundaries that divide one universe from another!”

She was then in a rocky ritual chamber as the romantic pacifist. She was sure of when and where this came from when she heard him say, “I help where I can, I will not fight.”

Then the flashes picked up speed, quickly jumping from the old warrior going for a lever in his repurposed TARDIS and proudly declaring, “Gallifrey stands!” to the tough leathery guy in the dark looking upon glowing gold nanogenes and joyously crying, “Everybody lives!” and then the spiky haired one in the sandshoes at his coral TARDIS console yelling, “Allons-y!”

The pace began to slow down a bit with the explosive regeneration of the one with the chin and the bowtie as he yelled up to the armada on his doorstep, “Love from Gallifrey, boys!”

A quick “Doctor in the TARDIS!” from the Scottish rocker preceded Little Miss Yorkshire staring down a bug-eyed monster and threatening it with, “Earth is protected by me and my mates. This year and every other!”

Finally were a few flashes of the few adventures she had thus far with this face. She then sat up as her current face again and looked around at the carriage she was in before looking at her hand and then feeling one heart beat, then another right alongside. It was clear to her now, the Doctor was back in and ready for action. “I do miss that Yorkshire twang,” she reminisced before looking and saying, “Right, to work.”

Opening titles: 

(0:08 - 0:09) 

Lily James

(0:09 - 0:11)

Willa Holland

(0:11 - 0:13)

Jesse McCartney

(0:13 - 0:14)

Jason Dohring

(0:23 - 0:25)

Based on

The Kingdom Hearts video game series

(0:26 - 0:28)

Story Outline & Concept Design

Tetsuya Nomura

(0:30 - 0:36)

The Fairytale Doctor

written by RedJLP

When she arrived at the mighty castle, the Doctor immediately realised that movement would be difficult while exiting her carriage. _This is going to get caught on everything,_ she thought about her dress as she ascended the staircase leading to the front door. She was through the exterior gates and just about to try and open said door when Unversed started to appear around her. _Of all times when I could be attacked, they go for the ones where I don’t have my sonic ready to use,_ she lamented. _Well, they could make good target practice to keep those Venusian Aikido abilities up to scratch._ She took a defensive martial arts stance and had just countered the attack of one with a kick to send it airborne when Terra arrived with his Keyblade ready to carve the creatures up. As their bodies dissipated, the Doctor looked to her savior, breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Your timing couldn’t be better.”

“So, wait a second,” Terra said, “back at the garden, you had no clue who I was, didn’t think you were the Doctor and cowered before those Unversed. Now you stand up and kick one without the faintest trace of hesitation.”

“That’s… a long story,” the Doctor replied. “I can explain what I can as we get further into the castle, but you’ll have to take point. After all, you are by far better equipped than I now.”

“I was just about to suggest the same thing,” Terra noted.

With delight, the Doctor indicated the door ahead of them and said, “Lead on, then.”

As Terra fought through the hordes of Unversed between them and the inner chambers of the castle, she was still getting used to moving within the confines of a ball gown. _I get that I pretty much have to wear this for the emotional weight behind the fixed point to remain,_ she told herself, _but what I’d give for a suit like I used on the space-faring_ Titanic _and during that business with the Kasaavin, that tech guy and the Master. After all, bowties are still cool, right?_ As she finished this thought process, she had joined Terra at the top of the latest flight of stairs and as a group of Unversed surrounded them, he slammed his Keyblade into the ground. This move did dispose of the beasts, but they also staggered the Doctor. “You do know my shoes are made of glass, right?” she asked, somewhat annoyed. “Put the right amount of pressure on it or have it hit a hard surface with enough speed and it shatters.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind the next time you’re here like this,” he conceded. “Now can you tell me the ‘long’ story?”

“Well…” the Doctor said, “it involves a lot of wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey that you probably won’t understand.”

Terra stopped and cracked a bemused smile before simply stating, “Try me.”

She sighed before muttering “Okay” under her breath and in a more normal tone, began to talk. “Firstly, for a long while after touching down,” She held the watch in the palm of her hand for him to see before continuing, “this watch was me. I know that sounds weird, but stick with me. On my ship, the TARDIS, there’s a thing called the Chameleon Arch that has a socket for the watch so that when I absolutely need to lay as low as possible, I can rewrite myself and save the old me onto said watch.”

“What do you mean ‘rewrite yourself’?” Terra asked.

“I mean remove my true life experiences, memories and such while making my biology perfectly human,” she explained. “For instance, I’d have one heart pumping blood rather than two. Secondly, I’m given a reasonable background relative to where and when I’m hiding, with the only hint at my past lives being shown in dreams.”

"Back up again," he said, puzzled, "'lives'? Plural?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped by another voice saying, “Excuse me.” The two turned to see a man of an age similar to that the Doctor looked in very regal attire. “May I have this dance?” he asked, holding his hand out to her.

A look of subtle realisation crossed her face before she turned to Terra and said, “I’ll explain later. For now, I have to take this whether I like it or not.” She then flashed a happy smile and accepted his hand as he led her into the great ballroom while arranging her hands into a position from which he could lead her into a waltz.

Depending on who was viewing, the response to this was mixed at worst. Terra was thinking, _If the Doctor hadn’t returned, the girl she had become might have loved this._

He thought back to what the Fairy Godmother had said, _“When you see her dancing, you’ll know that she believes and that will surely help you to believe too.”_

 _Maybe just believing *is* enough,_ he told himself.

At another end of the ballroom were Lady Tremaine and her daughters. As the Doctor looked around, she caught glimpses of their conversation. The first part she overheard was Anastasia asking, “But who *is* she, Mother?”

She was quickly followed by her sister asking, “Do we know her?”

“Well, the Prince certainly seems to,” she replied. “I, for one, have never seen her before.”

“Nor I,” their mother concurred. “But she certainly is-” She focused on the Prince’s blonde dance partner for a second or so more before deciding, “-familiar…” 

_If only you knew,_ the Doctor thought. _Though you may figure it out after the fact._ She was somewhat relieved when she noticed a woman with light brunette hair and dressed in red walk up to them and draw the sisters’ attention away from them by making conversation, but then she noticed Terra turn his head and when she looked in that direction, she realised that Unversed had invaded a mezzanine high above them. Knowing what she had to do, she let her eyes travel the room while trying not to give any indication that her attention was elsewhere. 

Meanwhile, Terra was asking a nearby official, “How do I get up there?”

This mustached official cleared his throat before responding, “Well, there is a passage beneath the foyer staircase.” He was then quickly thanked before Terra ran into action.

When he got there, he saw the biggest of them had taken a humanoid shape even though the head was still distinctly Unversed. It was dressed in a green band uniform which explained how when it caught sight of Terra, it summoned a snare drum, a violin and a trumpet and waved its baton (also still of Unversed design) to have them play distorted notes. This distortion staggered him and it felt like it was restraining him. Down on the ballroom floor, everyone heard an explosion of energy and turned to look, seeing the monster. Most of them gasped, with many of them turning to each other and asking things like, “What is that?” and “What happened to the King?”

They all then heard, “Down here!” Everyone’s attention was drawn to the center of the room where Terra had somehow appeared with an old man at his side and his Keyblade drawn. When the creature leapt down to meet them, most of the other attendees began to panic. Instinctively, the Prince stood defensively around the Doctor while the official yelled, “Guards? Guards! Oh, where could they possibly be?”

She turned to her partner and told him, "You have to go and help your people get out of here. They need you."

“And I need you safe and able to continue,” he replied.

Deciding there was no deterring him, the Doctor said, “Then let’s focus on evacuating the ballroom.” She then turned to the center of the room and said, “Terra, you wouldn’t mind keeping that thing out of our hair, would you?”

As the Prince waded through the sea of panicking guests, he saw the elder that Terra arrived with and called out to him, “Father, you have to go now!”

“I would rather die than see my kingdom fall,” the man said. “We’re evacuating the castle and that’s final!”

It was relatively easy for the Doctor to realize who this was, but his face disturbed her. _What's the Master doing here?_ she asked herself. A shockwave from the battle nearby made her realise that she had to consider this later. For now, she had to help people.

Before long, the creature was vanquished and the majority of other attendees had been evacuated. The official was just congratulating Terra on his victory when the Doctor, the Prince and his father returned, quite exhausted. “Either I must not have been given a real chance to stay in shape, or this gown is more restrictive than I thought,” she said while leaning against a pillar, panting for breath.

“At least we managed to get out okay and helped a significant amount of the other guests with the same,” the younger man replied.

“I have taught you well, Henry,” the elder said.

"That lesson being what?" she asked him. "That a true leader serves his people?"

He turned and responded, "You could say that. I see he has chosen just as well."

The Doctor was taken aback by this, saying, “Well, I’m honored, but we need to stay on the situation at hand so I have to ask, how recent was the monsters’ arrival?” 

Walking up to them with Terra close behind, the official answered, “I have reason to believe they began to appear shortly after a boy in a mask appeared somewhere in the kingdom.” As the King introduced her to the man whose official title was Grand Duke, he continued, further interesting Terra. “Those who claimed to have seen him say the creatures obeyed his every command.”

“And where would word on the street claim him to be now?” she asked.

“That’s just it,” the Duke responded. “No one has come forward with tales of the boy since.”

This troubled the Doctor as her hand went up to her chin in thought. “A boy in a mask whose orders the Unversed obey without question…” she was heard to mutter. “This place is getting weirder every second I spend in it.” She nevertheless understood that she needed to help and so turned to say in her normal speaking tone, “I have some street level contacts who might be able to help gather information on this predicament. I’ll go and ask for their insight.” With that, she slowly made her way out. While leaving, she caught sight of the clock tower reading 11:55. _That should be a good reason to duck out inconspicuously,_ she told herself. 

But then she heard from behind her, “At least let me escort you out.”

She turned to see the Prince advancing and said, “How chivalrous of you, but you can only come so far.” With that, the two of them exited the ballroom in the direction of the main exit.

Aqua had finally arrived and had just entered the majestic castle when she heard from up above, “Just the lady I wanted to see.” She turned to see the Doctor in a magnificent gown plodding down a somewhat long staircase. As she approached, she continued, “When is this for you? How long has it been since leaving the place I first saw you?”

Baffled, she simply said, “This has been my first stop since leaving the Land of Departure.” This news disappointed the Doctor, but she didn’t have time to think about this as Terra came into view causing Aqua to tell him, “Ven ran away from home.”

He stopped himself in his tracks and looked shocked. “What?” he asked. “I thought I said enough to dissuade him.”

“And I thought showing him inside the TARDIS would turn him back finally,” the Doctor interjected. “Maybe I shouldn’t have left him with the option to still seek you out.”

“Why would he be so desperate to defy Master Eraqus and try to find you?” Aqua said.

Terra thought about this and realized, “Just before I left, he tried to tell me something. I should have listened to what he had to say.”

They were interrupted by the toll of the mighty clock tower bells. Seeing the Prince not too far away, the Doctor instinctively said to Aqua, “I’ll just drop these back at your place, then.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, not understanding her plan.

The Doctor brought her voice down to a whisper before telling her, “Just play along.” As the Prince approached, she returned to a normal speaking volume and said, “I’m sorry, Aqua here was just reminding me that she wanted this dress I loaned from her back before the last echo of the last bell of the last stroke of midnight. Neither of us are in any position to make the handoff now, so I’m just leaving it back at her place.” She then removed one of her glass slippers and thrust it into his grasp. “If you ever want to see me again, seek the foot that best fits this slipper,” she told him.

As she began to pick up the pace, he called out to her, “But there could be hundreds of feet that can fit any one shoe.”

She was to the door of her ride when she turned to call back, “Any one *ordinary* shoe, yes, but these were specially designed for the feet of this face.” As she entered and closed the door, she left with a final reminder for him; “Fit the shoe, find the girl,” before sitting herself down and calling to the driver (still the humanoid Major), “To the house, use the backroads.” Within seconds, they were off. As the carriage was pulled according to the stated directions, all she was thinking about was timing her next move. She needed to be far enough from sight that nobody would be asking about a carriage pulled by horses becoming a pumpkin pulled by rodents, but if she waited too long, she feared being crushed inside. As the toll of the bells continued to echo into the night, her paranoia finally won out and she opened the door. At the first sight of a clearing, she dove out, tumbled and ended in a position where she could see the spell wear off as warned about and the pumpkin bounced away out of sight. As she saw her alter ego’s animal companions picking themselves up, she sat up and said, “I’m sorry you all got caught up in this mess. I probably should be more sorry that I’m no longer the girl who groomed you into who you are now.”

Surprisingly, when the mice returned to their true form, their clothes were restored. Jaq noticed her feet and said, “Cinderelly, the slipper!” Sure enough, the other slipper had not faded to dust when the spell wore off.

Looking at it, the Doctor sighed. “It seems that if there is a real Cinderella out there, she never showed,” she said, taking it off before rising to her feet. “In her absence, the fixed point must go on and thus, the Doctor must stay in.” She then began to cover the rest of the distance on foot.

Meanwhile, Aqua and Terra had not yet left the castle, but were talking about their mission. “Did you manage to locate Master Xehanort?” she asked.

“No,” he responded, “but it seems he’s looking for pure hearts filled with light.” She took a moment to consider this before he continued, “All I can tell you is that his search hasn’t taken him here.”

“I’ll stay and see if I can find more clues, then,” she decided.

“The Duke is in the ballroom upstairs,” he told her. “He or the Prince may have answers.” As she turned to leave, he asked her, “You still have the same dream?”

Stopping, Aqua turned to show him a somewhat confused and/or concerned face before responding, “Well… yes. Why?”

“While she was here,” Terra elaborated, “the Doctor engineered a lesson in how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible things seem, a powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the way forward.” As a sly grin crossed her lips, he concluded, “Next time you see her, thank her for me.” 

As she nodded and turned to leave, the Doctor and all the animals roped into getting her there had made it back to the chateau far enough ahead of its other inhabitants to mull over what she had learned without risk of discovery. _Are the Unversed something spawned by another instance like the Empty Child,_ she told herself. _Even if not, is the boy who commands them the reason why they’ve spread so far?_

Terra was having a similar monologue as he was leaving the Castle of Dreams. _Does he have anything to do with Master Xehanort’s disappearance? Must I speak with Master Yen Sid myself for the sake of context and clarity?_ he wondered.

As he donned his armor to leave while she turned in for the night, they both asked themselves, _Who is this masked boy?_

As she walked into the mighty ballroom, Aqua passed by three women, one quite older than the other two. As she passed them, she was struck by a vision of a dark presence with beastly eyes. She recovered quickly and they never noticed, but she still eyed the older one in particular quite suspiciously. She turned to a man in a blue official outfit that she had to assume was the stated Duke and asked him, “Who were those ladies?”

Stopping what he was doing, he turned to look and answered, “If I recall correctly, they are Lady Tremaine and her daughters.” 

As Aqua studied them, the Prince returned to the room holding something in his hand. As she focused on it, she said, “That’s the Doctor’s.”

At the idea that she knew the one that enchanted him, he asked, “Would you know where she’d be right now?”

With how little she knew about the traveler, she just said, “She could be anywhere now.”

Dejected, he looked to the glass slipper in his hand and said, “I suppose I have to trust her-“

“What with?” They turned to see an old man dressed more regally than the Prince. It was clear to Aqua that he was the King here.

“The woman that actively helped with the evacuation gave me this to remember her by, saying fitting it could lead back to her,” the Prince said.

“If I were you,” his father said, “I’d leave the men some time to rest before I started ordering quests to seek one woman based on whose foot fit one shoe.”

“Maybe put notices up around town tonight so that when you start tomorrow, you’re fully rested and ready to go,” Aqua suggested.

“I can arrange for such to begin within the hour,” the Duke piped up.

“Very well,” the King decided. “So it shall be that the search shall begin in the morning, but what about you?” he asked Aqua. “Do you have somewhere to stay?”

“I’ll find somewhere,” she replied. Remembering what the Doctor had said, she added, “When I find it, I’ll message the Doctor so she can return my things.” With that, she took her leave as the castle staff focused on repairing the battle damage as best they could. As she left, one thing lingered on her mind: the dark presence surrounding Lady Tremaine in particular. She decided that in the morning, she should pay her residence a visit. The next day, most people from around the town clamoured to read what the notice said.

* * *

**By the King**

**A Proclamation--**

* * *

**All loyal subjects of his Imperial Majesty are hereby notified by royal proclamation that in regard to a certain glass slipper, it is upon this day decreed that a quest be instituted throughout the length and breadth of our domain. The sole and express purpose of said quest is as follows to wit: that every single maiden in our beloved Kingdom shall try upon her foot the aforementioned slipper of glass and should one be found whose foot shall properly fit said slipper, such maiden will be acclaimed the object of this search and the one and only true love of his Royal Highness, our noble Prince Henry. Said Royal Highness shall then humbly request the hand of said maiden in marriage to rule with him over all the land as Royal Princess and future Queen.**

Knowing what was to come, the Doctor knew that she had to delay the inevitable while staying in character. She realised her time was coming sooner than she thought as she heard Lady Tremaine calling, “Cinderella!”

Completing the last touches on her maid look, she took a breath before answering from the kitchen. “Is there a problem?” she asked.

“My daughters,” her physical elder answered. “Where are they?”

“I believe they’re still in bed,” she said.

Lady Tremaine looked to be in a mad, stressful rush as she said, “Then don’t just stand there! Bring up the breakfast trays with haste.”

Ducking back inside to carry this out, she looked to a table on which Jaq stood with a plump mouse in a yellow sweater and green hat and said, “She seems to be in an awful stew about something, lads. Why don’t you two head up to the girls’ rooms and have a look, *quietly*?”

“Zugk-zugk, Cinderelly,” Jaq declared. He turned to the other mouse and said, “Come on, Gus-Gus,” and they rushed for a hole from which they could access the same tunnel system that he had shown Ventus around the prior day.

Entering a room of green walls, Lady Tremaine called, “Drizella!”

Her brunette daughter sleepily rolled around and groaned before saying, “What?”

She was then struck by a beam of sunlight she recoiled from as her mother told her, “Get up! Quick, this instant, we haven’t a moment to lose!” Lady Tremaine then moved onto a pink room where a candle on the wall hid the mice under the wax. She called, “Anastasia?” When she received no response, she just shook the redhead while saying, “Get up, Anastasia.”

Only then did the still sleepy girl pull her head out from under the pillow and ask, “What for?”

“Everyone’s talking about it,” the older woman said, “the whole kingdom. Hurry now, he’ll be here any minute.”

Finally on her feet, Drizella entered groggily asking, “Who will?”

“The Grand Duke,” their mother said. “He’s been hunting all night.”

“Hunting?” Drizella asked?

“For that girl, the one who lost her slipper at the ball last night,” Lady Tremaine elaborated. “They say he’s madly infatuated with her.”

Still not quite getting it, Anastasia asked, “The Duke is?”

“No, no, no, the Prince,” the mother cried.

From the doorway they heard, “So that’s why the ball was held.”

They turned to see the Doctor, or as they still thought of her, Cinderella, with breakfast on a tray as instructed. Lady Tremaine looked at her and said, “Speak your mind, then, why?”

“Well, think about it,” she said as she left the tray on a side table. “The Prince returns home after a lengthy time abroad and the palace hosts a ball the same night, decreeing that every eligible maiden was to attend, presumably no exceptions.”

“And your point is?” Drizella asked.

“That maybe the Mast-” The Doctor realized how big of a tip-off that would have been if she continued and stopped herself. Instead she went with, “-King intended to use his son’s romantic ambitions to leverage him back into his responsibilities.”

Drizella yawned and just said, “Then just let him.”

Anastasia continued, “If he’s in love with that girl, why should we even bother?”

“Because, you two,” Lady Tremaine coldly said as she pulled the sheet off the bed, “there is still a chance that one of you can get him.”

This got their attention. “One of us?!” Drizella cried.

“Why, Mother, what do you mean?” Anastasia asked.

“Just this: no one, not even the Prince knows who that girl is,” she answered. “The glass slipper is their only clue and the Duke has been ordered to try it on every girl in the kingdom for if one can be found whom the slipper fits, then, by the King’s command, that girl shall be the Prince’s bride.”

That did it. They were both on their feet and calling for the Doctor to aid in their getting ready while also saying to ignore the calls from the other. Quite soon, the pile of things the sisters demanded aid with reached from her waist to her chin, but Drizella finally looked at her face and said “What’s the matter with her?”

“She looks like she could faint any second,” Anastasia observed and sure enough, the blonde’s face was visibly covered with sweat. “Are you gonna be alright?”

“She has to be,” her sister continued. “She has to help me get dressed!”

“We should all put some effort into presentability,” the Doctor agreed, “but I’ve been thinking about the responsibilities associated with royalty and it makes me nervous for the girl who they find because her life and lifestyle in particular will never be the same.”

“My daughters know the risk,” Lady Tremaine reassured. “I’m sure it will be worth the reward for all of us. Now, focus on getting the girls ready.”

The Doctor took a breath and despite her best efforts to hold back the unease, some still showed when she addressed them, “You do what you can here, I’ll get to work upstairs.” As she said that last word, she snapped her fingers in the direction of the candle the mice were hiding in. It took a few seconds, but eventually they realised what she was telling them to do.

As she left the room, Lady Tremaine’s eyes followed her with suspicion. Anastasia cautiously sidled up to her mother and asked, “Did you see what she did?”

Drizella then quickly appeared alongside and asked, “Why, are you just going to let her walk-”

“Quiet!” the old woman declared as she focused on her supposed stepdaughter.

“Darn responsibilities,” she was heard to mutter as she loaded everything she was given into a basket. “This is exactly why you left Gallifrey to begin with.” Opening the door to the stairway, she could guess that Lady Tremaine was following her creepily.

As she finished setting up to work, she heard Jaq calling “Cinderelly! Cinderelly! Look out!”

Without turning, she just said “I know, just find someplace safe to enjoy the view from.” They had just found a suitable spot when they all heard the creaking of the door and the Doctor said, “The girls are ready to be fitted? Send them up and they’ll be ready in a ji-” She stopped when she looked in the mirror and saw her physical eldar inserting a key in the door lock. She sighed as a sly smile sprouted on her face and she admitted, “It was only a matter of time before I was found out.”

As she stepped into the room, Lady Tremaine asked, “Keeping the time wasn't the only reason your father left you his watch, was it?”

The Doctor turned to answer, “Since the cat’s out of the bag, no. It was part of a greater plan to analyse the coming storm while waiting it out. If the attack on the ball was any indication, the waiting it out is over and my next moves must be made at just the right moments.”

“Like winning over the Prince?” Lady Tremaine wasn’t used to having her own plans challenged and she showed it as her voice started to get more aggressive than normal.

“If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have,” the Doctor replied, “but some points in time and space are fixed. In other words, him falling for a blonde from this house had to happen, whether I like the consequences of such or not.”

“Then you won’t mind staying up here?” Lady Tremaine said more to regain her cool.

“Because you’d only be delaying the inevitable,” the Doctor said, “for another fixed point in time is the slipper finding its true owner who moves out of here.”

“I look forward to it,” Lady Tremaine said with chilling sarcasm. Just as cold was the smile on her face as she returned to the door and said, “Once your storm is over, we will rise.”

“Then you’ll want this,” the Doctor said as she slid the basket out alongside her. Lady Tremaine then turned the key in the lock, took it and shut the door. Now left to her own devices, she opened a hidden compartment in her desk and grabbed her sonic screwdriver before running to the wardrobe and pulling her black set out.

After some asking around, Aqua found the Tremaine residence: a once stately chateau that is now a shadow of its former glory. As she approached the door, she heard, “You honor our humble home, m’lord.”

As she heard the Grand Duke reply, “Quite so,” she had an idea of who this was.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard, “May I present my daughters, Drizella and Anastasia.”

 _As I feared,_ she told herself, _there is darkness here._

She drew her Keyblade and was just about to burst in through the front door when she heard, “It’s dangerous to fight the darkness with light, my dear.”

When she turned to see who was speaking, said speaker seemed to use sparkles to fade into existence. “Who are you?” she asked as the materialisation neared completion.

“I’m the Fairy Godmother,” the being said. “My duty is to guide those who believe that dreams can come true.”

“Then I’m honored,” Aqua said, humbled, “but why would you advise me not to fight darkness with light?”

“Strong rays of sun create dark shadows,” the Godmother began. “Sadly, Lady Tremaine and both her daughters grew jealous of the charm and beauty that her time here instilled on the one who calls herself the Doctor, qualities that appear to you as ‘light’. Though I feel that one of the daughters can be saved, I fear the other is trapped in her mother’s dogmatic jealousy, a quality you often associate with darkness. In other words, light and dark go hand in hand and you can’t have one without the other.”

Aqua felt herself at a loss. Master Eraqus had always insisted that the only way to keep the darkness in check was to push it back at all costs. Her education at the Land of Departure hadn’t prepared her for any challenge to this view. “Then what should I do?” she conceded.

“If I know our mutual friend the Doctor, she’s already tasked the friends she’s met here with what she needs to preserve her light,” the Fairy Godmother said. “However, it will be a difficult road ahead for little Jaq and Gus. I want you to join them and help them.”

Aqua’s eyes lit up as she said, “Now, *that* I can do.”

“Good,” the Fairy Godmother cried. “Now, you’ll just need some magical assistance to get in.” With that, she cast at Aqua and the sparkling energy enveloped her, gradually growing smaller while bringing her inside the house one floor up.

Aqua took being a fraction of her size rather well. Some part in that may have been that her attention was immediately caught by two mice hauling a key that was as long as they combined were tall. She could hear the one at the front, dressed in red saying things like, “Rat’s a mean, mean stepmothey,” and, “Gotta help Cinderelly.” 

She was instructed to help, so help she decided to give. “Are you two okay?” she asked.

“Cinderelly’s stepmothey lock her in her room,” he said, exhausted. “Gotta let her out, gotta save Cinderelly!”

Remembering how difficult the road ahead would be according to the Fairy Godmother’s warning, she drew her Keyblade and offered, “Let me help you.”

The one in yellow spoke up and said, “Lessa trust her, Jaq-Jaq.”

“Zugk-zugk, Gus-Gus.” Now that she knew she was with the right beings, Aqua was relieved to hear it. She was somewhat shocked to hear the one called Jaq look at her Keyblade and say, “Ooh, that’s-a like Ven-Ven’s! D‘ya ever meet-a Ven-Ven?”

Deciding not to show it, she just said, “I’m Aqua, but tell me how you know about Ven.”

“Us-a friend, good friend,” Jaq cried. “Ven-Ven help-a Jaq-Jaq fix-a Cinderelly dress.”

“And where is he now?” Aqua asked, hoping to get her friend home sooner rather than later.

“Look-a for friend,” he answered, “other friend.”

Aqua now had an idea of why Ven was adventuring too, only showing it by simply saying, “I see.” To herself, she said, _Ven, you must have just missed Terra._

Their talk was interrupted by the attempt to get Anastasia’s foot into the slipper. They overheard things like, “I can’t understand why-” and “It always fit perfectly before.”

The commotion came to a halt when they heard another voice that was unmistakably the Grand Duke’s say, “That’s enough. The next young lady, please?”

Jaq began to panic. “Gotta flurry!” he cried. “Cinderelly gotta try that slipper.” Just as he was beginning to run for a nearby mouse hole with Gus struggling to maintain pace, a creature with eyes like Aqua saw haunting Lady Tremaine appeared. Jaq put the brakes on so abruptly, Gus was rolled right into it. As he got back to his feet and realise a few more were appearing before his eyes, he clenched his fists and said, “Now, rake a reasy, flip-flip.”

Aqua then jumped forward and declared, “It’s all right. Leave this to me. Focus on the key.” 

Many of these creatures were big and needed a lot of time to take down, but with the power at her disposal, she didn’t give them a chance to even breath. Before long, the mice had gotten the key safely to the hole and the last of the monsters were now grouped together in such a way that one blast was enough to finish them off. As he left, Jaq thanked her with, “Zugk-zugk, Aqua.” Now it was time to keep an eye on Lady Tremaine and her daughters.

It took Aqua awhile not only to get through the comparatively enormous doors, but also to get up on the railing overlooking the bottom floor. That said, she needed the best view possible to view from above. As she settled in, the Duke was asking, “You’re the only ladies here?”

As Lady Tremaine claimed, “There’s no one else, Your Grace,” Aqua realised her plan.

The Doctor was finishing up everything she could do from upstairs as she and Aqua said to themselves, _Time is of the essence, Jaq._

Aqua’s attention was then drawn to the sound of footsteps below and when she looked, she saw the Duke on his way out. Deciding to act fast, she was about to jump into action when the shrinking spell that brought her to the mice’s level wore off causing her to lose her footing and tumble down. With everyone drawn to her messy landing, she had to think on her feet. “Would it be alright if I tried the slipper on?” she asked innocently.

“I remember you from the palace,” the Duke said, “and unfortunately you are not the young lady the Prince is looking for.”

That reminded her of his orders; to try the shoe on every maiden in the town. Deciding to use it against him, she said, “But I *am* a girl. I should at least have a chance to try it on.”

Lady Tremaine stepped forward and pushed, “Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?”

Ever pessimistic, Drizella said, “She’s probably here to rob us.”

Anastasia, however, asked, “What do we do now?”

Their mother looked to the Duke and coldly said, “That girl does not live here. I have only two daughters and as you said, you are certain she’s not the one you need.”

“Regardless,” the Duke said, “she means no harm.”

From the upper floor they heard, “And yet all she’s doing is buying time for its true owner.” They looked up and saw the Doctor, now with no further need to hide in maid’s clothes. 

Acting fast to save face, Lady Tremaine said to the Duke, “Pay no attention to her. She’s just an imaginative child.”

“Madam,” the Duke declared, “my order were *every* maiden.”

Aqua stepped toward the stairs and said, “You should let her go first.”

“Thank you, Aqua,” the Doctor said as she sat down. “We can be done here a lot quicker.”

“I actually wanna thank *you*,” Aqua said, “for teaching Terra he needs to keep believing.”

She leaned up to the standing lady and grinned before declaring, “Another happy accident.” As the Duke advanced toward her with the slipper in hand, Lady Tremaine moved her cane into such a position as to trip him, causing him to drop the lovely slipper. He and the Doctor tried to catch it, but it still hit the floor and smashed. He began to panic. “Not to worry,” she said while reaching into her pocket. “The thing is, I anticipated that kind of move and brought the other slipper.” Elated, he took the shoe as she took off her current corresponding shoe. 

He slid it on to perfectly fit without any issue. “I must inform the palace immediately,” he cried. “You will come with me, of course.”

“A very generous offer,” the Doctor said, “but I have my own vehicle and would like Aqua to accompany me, if it’s alright with her.”

“I’d love to see inside what you’ve been flying,” Aqua noted as the three of them exited.

“It’s not fair!” Drizella cried, furiously. “She’s just a scullery maid!”

Anastasia was nervous about what her mother and sister were thinking. “You’re just going to let them leave, are you, Mother?” she asked, hoping for the realistic answer.

To her horror, Lady Tremaine simply answered, “No, those two will be put in their place.”

In the area out the front door, the Duke was asking the Doctor, “Where might your vehicle be?”

“In a barn around there,” she said pointing in a general direction.

They then heard a twitch in the trees on the other side. Their attention was focused there for a while and then from there jumped a monster bearing striking resemblance to the Doctor’s carriage, but dark and with the Unversed sigil on the door. Almost as soon as it appeared, it threw bombs shaped like pumpkins in their direction. These bombs sent the three flying backwards and when the Doctor looked up to the front door, she saw Lady Tremaine with a sinister smirk. “I care not how, but I shall grant my daughters the life that’s best for them!” she declared as the two in question sidled up to her.

“Best for them,” the Doctor pushed as she struggled to her feet, “Or best for you?”

“It matters little,” the matriarch cried, “for this is what happens when you go against my wishes!” She and Drizella were so caught up in the moment, they didn’t realise that some of the bombs were headed in their direction.

However, this was the day Anastasia seemed to fully lose faith in her mother. For some time, she was beginning to doubt whether her mother actually had the best interests at heart, but now, hearing what the Doctor was insinuating, that her mother saw her as little more than supposedly blissfully ignorant tool to climb the social hierarchy, it was almost like she finally woke up from a long slumber. This newfound clairvoyance allowed her to realise they were in danger and shove them clear, while diving away in the other direction so that that bomb exploded mostly harmlessly. While she, the Duke and the Doctor were already running with Aqua standing to fight, Drizella and Lady Tremaine would become victims of their own ambition and fell to the fires of that creature. Aqua looked and noted, _The darkness in their hearts overtook them._

The Doctor was panting for breath as she entered the barn. She was quickly comforted by the one and only real horse they had on site. “Yes, hello, Major,” she greeted. She looked at the blue box in the corner and asked him, “No one’s been at the TARDIS, have they?” The horse eyed a hook behind her, where she had cleverly hidden her key on its own behind a ring full of others. As she pulled the key off the hook, she scanned it with her sonic and confirmed that yes, it had not been tampered with.

She then entered the TARDIS and took off, but was conflicted on where to go next. She knew she had to do other things, but the genuine looks of horror and defiance on Anastasia’s face plagued her and made her think of certain times in her lives where she would get a lesson in what it is to be the Doctor. First, she was the spikey haired cockney in the suit and sandshoes looking into the tearful face of his ginger companion as she tearfully begged, “Just someone. Not the whole town. Just save someone.” 

Then she was the Scottish rocker thinking back to that very same moment when he realised, “I know where I got this face and I know what it’s for.”

Her companion at the time could still not get off her mind, even though at the time, all she was asking was, “Okay, what’s it for?”

And the reply she got was, “To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I’m the Doctor and I save people. And if anyone happens to be listening and you’ve got any kind of a problem like that, to *hell* with you!”

The last was the most chilling because it was the voice of someone whose death still haunted her after so long. The voice said, “‘Doctor’, the word for ‘healer’ and ‘wise man’ throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know.”

Her frustration eventually gave out and as she said aloud to herself, “I must be out of my mind,” she set the TARDIS into motion. It materialised in front of a horrified Anastasia. She opened the door, offered her hand and said, “Come with me.” With nowhere else to turn to, all she could do was accept it.

At the castle, the Prince was pacing around a walkway overlooking a fountain with stairs connecting to the garden it stood in the middle of. His arms remained folded until he heard an unfamiliar sound. When he turned to the place it was coming from, he saw the TARDIS materialising and then out from the door stepped the Doctor and Anastasia. As he stepped forward, he addressed the Doctor, “So this is the real you.”

“Pretty much,” she said, “but I can’t settle down with you. Responsibilities put too big a hamper in my traveling schedule.”

Struggling with everything she’d seen and heard for the past couple of hours, Anastasia asked, “Wait a minute, first you’re a maid, then you’re a beautiful ball attendee and now you’re a self professed traveller. What gives?”

The Doctor drew a breath and said, “This is going to take a long while to explain.”

“Well, we escaped the fiery wrath of a monster that killed my mother and sister,” Anastasia reminded. “Given he was waiting for you, I think we have time.”

Now that the Duke was arriving with Aqua, she felt there was no further point in holding back. She beckoned Aqua to sit on a fountain wall with them before beginning to talk. “Firstly, I fiddled around with this watch so that until I opened it, the maid persona, including being your stepsister, was an elaborate disguise, even from myself.” 

“Then who are you really?” the Prince asked.

“An adventurous traveller,” she replied. “I’ve gone by many names; Smith, Theta Sigma and a few others, but you can call me the Doctor.”

“Well, even if you are a doctor,” Anastasia said, “how can you fit a vehicle so huge into such a tiny box?”

“That’s the interesting part,” the Doctor answered. “Firstly, I never said to call me *a* doctor, but *the* Doctor. The original, you might say. Secondly, mine is a civilisation that is among the earliest to discover and then just about perfect dimensionally transcendental engineering.”

“Is it just me,” Anastasia asked, “or are you talking as though you’re from another world?”

“Your perception pleases me,” the Doctor said, meaning it. “No it’s not just you and so yes, while humanoid in appearance, my people, the Time Lords, hail from a planet called Gallifrey in a constellation of stars called Kasterborous. As the name suggests, a part of TARDIS R&D is time/space traversal, TARDIS being what we call vessels like mine.”

“A vessel that you’ve used for how long before meeting anyone here?” Aqua piped up.

A little quieter, the Doctor answered, “Centuries.”

Everyone around was stunned. Centuries? “How have you not aged?” the Prince asked.

“Time Lords actually age very slowly,” said the Doctor, “though we are also able to cheat death by regenerating our bodies. Such a process isn’t without its drawbacks, however. Firstly, in most cases, we can only regenerate up to twelve times, though this can be extended. Secondly, most times, regeneration changes the person’s face and personality, though this can be informed by someone they’ve met before, which begs the question, why did I take this face?” 

As she pondered this, she stood up and started walking toward the TARDIS, but was stopped by the Prince grabbing her arm and asking, “But what about the magic that started last night?”

“I’m certain there is a humble lady with this face that would be more than willing to pick up where we left off,” the Doctor told him, “and the moment I find her, I’ll acquaint you two and you can carry on from there. For now, I need to show Anastasia what she’s been missing under her mother.” With that, she led the redhead inside, and some time after closing the doors, set the TARDIS on a course for who knows where.

“I should go too,” Aqua added. “I shouldn’t overstay my welcome.”

“You’re welcome in the main parts of the palace anytime,” the Prince said before she left. 

As she passed through the main gate, she was greeted by the Fairy Godmother. “The true Cinderella the Doctor was talking about,” she said, “hers is a pure heart filled with light, isn’t it?”

“To wielders of the light like yourself,” the Godmother said, “that makes her a target for your enemies.”

“It’s strange, though,” Aqua continued. “The Master taught me darkness needs to be destroyed, but how if not with light?”

“I think you should travel with the Doctor for a while and experience more things to find out for yourself,” the Godmother answered, somewhat cryptically. “Though, I’d also hold my dreams tight if I were you.”

Aqua smiled as the woman before her faded away as she herself took her own leave.

End titles: 

Starring

The Doctor - Lily James

Ventus - Jesse McCartney

Terra - Jason Dohring

Aqua - Willa Holland

Prince - Richard Madden

King - Derek Jacobi

Grand Duke - Stellan Skarsgård

Lady Anna - Lilgrimmapple

Lady Tremaine - Susanne Blakeslee

Anastasia Tremaine - Holliday Grainger

Drizella Tremaine - Sophie McShera

Jaq - Rob Paulson

Gus - Corey Burton

Fairy Godmother - Helena Bonham Carter

Unversed voice effects - Frank Welker, Dee Bradley Baker, Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs appears courtesy of Big Finish Productions

  
  


Featuring:

William Hartnell

Patrick Troughton

Jo Martin

Jon Pertwee

Tom Baker

Peter Davison

Colin Baker

Sylvester McCoy

Paul McGann

John Hurt

Christopher Eccleston

David Tennant

Matt Smith

Peter Capaldi

Jodie Whittaker

As the Doctor 

Catherine Tate

As Donna Noble

Jenna Coleman

As Clara Oswald

And Alex Kingston

As River Song

River Song created by - Steven Moffat

Music by - Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Original theme music composed by - Ron Grainer

Original theme music arranged by - Delia Derbyshire

Cinderella leitmotifs composed by - Mack David, Jerry Livingston, Al Hoffman

Original Cinderella scores composed by - Oliver Wallace, Paul J. Smith, Patrick Doyle

Theme music rearranged by - Segun Akinola

Synthesisers arranged by - Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Orchestra arranged by - Murray Gold

Orchestrated and conducted by - Ben Foster

Title Sequence and Additional VFX - Ben Pickles

Visual Effects and Animation - Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Works, DNEG

Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics

Post production audio effects - Skywalker Sound

Miniature effects - The Motel Unit

Prosthetics - Millennium FX

Executive producers - RedJLP,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The placement of Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor in canon is blurry at best and at worst, fuels the fires of controversy left in the wake of "The Timeless Children". As such, my placement of her was very deliberate considering it is never shown who Patrick Troughton regenerated into or Jon Pertwee regenerated out of. Not only does "Fugitive of the Judoon" give plenty of evidence to corroborate this placement, it also makes sense if the BBC or Chris Chibnall (as unlikely as the latter may be) decide to retcon the Timeless Child reveal to have actually been referring to the Master to save face from their main audience. With that out of the way, her short screen-time meant I didn't have a lot of inspirational quotes to pick from, hence why I chose one from the most controversial episode she's appeared in. For everyone else's quotes, their main televised runs or Big Finish appearances were both fair game, though for the classic Doctors, quotes that were used in "LEGO Dimensions" were prioritised given my lack of experience in their appearances save for most multi-Doctor stories. Speaking of classic Doctors, Jon Pertwee was the first to display the martial arts skills I call back to and despite Matt Smith making them cool, bowties were already an established Doctor's fashion accessory since at least Patrick Troughton. Of course, every Whovian and their mother should know the phrases, "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" and "I'll explain later", though "lives, plural" came from Raiden's chapter in the main Mortal Kombat 11 story mode as a tribute to Richard Epcar taking on the role of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness since "Kingdom Hearts II" and Raiden since "MK vs DCU". A more recent reference is the Doctor telling the Prince that his people need him only to be told that he needs her alive, obviously mirroring David Tennant's similar exchange with Elizabeth I in "The Day of the Doctor". Given that a Doctor following him would remember Sir Derek Jacobi playing the Professor Yana Master, I was extremely tempted to cast John Simm as the Prince, though I eventually decided that would be too much. Making her stop to talk to Aqua also made sense to do considering it would give her a much more realistic and somewhat believable reason to leave, though her knowing that the fixed point in time was imminent forced her to just give a slipper to the Prince. Terra's and the Doctor's mental monologues ending with the same sentence shows you just how intrigued I am in the psychological battles of the "Death Note" anime. I could have been thinking of any number of things when I had the Doctor say "Another happy accident", but the biggest thing I can think of in retrospect is Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Revenge of the Sith" saying "Another happy landing". Say what you will about the Disneytoon direct-to-home-video sequel trend (it had too little input from the original filmmakers to evoke the past films in anything other than setting and characters and so birthed totally different visions of the franchise), at least some of them tried to expand away from the black and white morality of their predecessors. Case in point, the third story of their first Cinderella outing, "Dreams Come True", which gave Anastasia a redemption arc. While, it could have been accurate to believe that it was specific to that one story back in '02 when the film originally launched on DVD and presumably VHS, their second and only other outing in the franchise, "A Twist in Time", established that the seeds of rebellion didn't appear within the time between the original film and that one story and since redemption arcs are probably my favourite short term kind of character development arc, I decided to run with it here. As for the internal conflict scene regarding the Doctor's considering acting on it, it made a lot of sense for me to use Peter Capaldi's whole "I'm the Doctor and I save people" declaration from "The Girl who Died" considering that's what mostly inspired it, though I added River's appearance in "A Good Man Goes to War" because I thought it was the best thing to sway her if any doubts remained. 
> 
> Casting had to be the most difficult part of this one considering my previously stated uncertainty regarding how willing the cast of the 2015 film would return for a Kingdom Hearts (ish) version of their role for television. As previously stated, the least difficult one in that regard alone was Sir Derek Jacobi, but I almost didn't do it because he was also the Master.
> 
> Edit: User Lilgrimmapple on DeviantArt said she'd be interested in not only looking at this when I told her about it, but also supplying an almost River-esqe character to appear in it from time to time. Admittedly, most of the appearances she has already shown are of worlds that are yet to come, but today, I discovered she had also made a Cinderella one wherein she distracts the sisters as shown at: https://www.deviantart.com/lilgrimmapple/art/Mademoiselle-Anna-864018725


	6. Princesses of Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alarm goes off that reminds the Doctor to finish what she started in the worlds she had visited before. This time, Aqua is at her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for how long you had to wait for this and it probably won't improve as I have now took it upon myself to turn the literature of smaller writers into screenplays in the hopes that they might get picked up and made. In my discussions with some other writers, they have also given me the green light to incorporate their characters into the general story or a one-shot spin off and I've added a scene into the last episode to capitalise. That said, it's still a double edged sword at best as both of those are eating away at my time developing the main story.

An alarm sounded throughout the TARDIS and when the Doctor looked at the monitor to see what was wrong, she saw something she feared would happen. With her practiced sleight of hand, she had been able to inconspicuously hide a device in the basket the old lady was carrying back in the Dwarves’ Woodlands. She designed this device and a similar one with a camera she hid at the dwarves’ house so that when they were in close proximity to each other, an alarm would go off in the TARDIS and play the camera’s feed on a monitor. What she saw made her realise she had to act fast. Upon arrival and looking out the door, she immediately saw that the old woman was making a run for it in one direction, but the dwarves were en route from another. Assuming they were onto her as well, the Doctor called, “Quick, she’s getting away! After her!” They pursued her through a dark part of the woods that led to rough rocky ground to stand on and climb. Terrain was quickly becoming a problem for them all, especially for the old woman who quickly found herself able to climb no further. Panicking, she grabbed a nearby piece of wood and tried to set loose upon her pursuers a huge boulder. The Doctor immediately began fearing for the lives of the dwarves and started to call for them to retreat, but as this was happening, a burst of lightning struck the cliff on which their target stood. It crumbled beneath her feet and she fell to her doom, sealed by the boulder falling the same way. Only after letting out a sigh of relief did the Doctor remember why she bugged the basket in the first place. She ran flat out back the way she came and she burst open the door of the dwarves’ little cottage. Looking down, she clasped her hand over her mouth as she saw that what she feared had come to pass: an innocent princess sprawled out upon the ground nearly lifeless.

Opening titles: 

(0:08 - 0:10)

Lily James

(0:10 - 0:12)

Willa Holland

(0:12 - 0:14)

Jesse McCartney

(0:23 - 0:25)

Based on

The Kingdom Hearts video game series

(0:26 - 0:28)

Story Outline & Concept Design

Tetsuya Nomura

(0:30 - 0:36)

Princesses of Heart

written by RedJLP

As Aqua arrived at the scene, she saw the Doctor and seven smaller men crouched around a casket of glass on a gold coloured plinth. “There was nothing you could have done,” she heard one of them tell the Doctor in an effort to console her.

“There is, though!” she snapped. “I’m a Time Lord and I would have done something if there were no rules about fixed points in time.”

“What happened here?” Aqua asked.

Indicating the structure before her, the Doctor simply said, “Look for yourself.” As she approached it, Aqua got a better view of why the little men were in mourning. Under the glass but resting on something soft on the plinth was a young woman that looked quite dead.

“She was just as sweet as could be,” she heard the dwarf wearing glasses say from behind her. At that, all the other dwarves nodded in agreement.

As they took turns saying their reasons for missing her, some of them caught the Doctor’s attention. The first was Sleepy saying, “At bedtime, she told wonderful stories…”

She would have left it alone had Bashful not followed up with, “About falling in love, an’ the Prince she’d met.”

At that point, she started to realise something. _Nowadays fairytales are told with happy endings,_ she told herself. _So there must be a way to fix this._

As Happy lamented, “She was so full of kindness- why, she made better folk of all of us,” the Doctor felt her spirits rising.

“From what you’ve said,” Aqua contemplated, “she must have been very loved.”

As she stood up, the Doctor felt her enthusiasm build in every word of her next sentence; “And she could be more loved if I truly have figured out how to fix this. Come.” On that last word, she made a break for the TARDIS.

Confused, all Aqua could say in response was, “Uhh, okay?” before turning to the dwarves and asking, “You wouldn’t mind if we excuse ourselves, right?” As she followed the Doctor inside, her reaction to the TARDIS interior was much more neutered than Ven’s.

The Doctor made note of this saying, “I suppose you were expecting her to be so much bigger on the inside. After all, you’ve heard plenty of people bring it up by now.”

“Yes,” Aqua replied, though she still stood in relative awe of the marvel. The Doctor then led her down the hall and through a door that opened into a large library. “So, you mind telling me why you went from being mourningly distraught to running in here with hope in your eyes?” Aqua asked.

“In a bit,” the Doctor deflected as she rushed for a shelf. She pulled a book out and flicked through the pages before opening on one as she returned to Aqua saying, “She’s out cold because she bit into an apple spiked with this.” 

She pointed at the page causing Aqua to read the title aloud, “'Sleeping Death'? So she’s not dead, only asleep?”

“Technically, but look here at the noted effects: ‘One taste and the taker’s eyes shall close forever in a sleep like death’. Hence the really creative name.” You could hear the sarcasm in saying that last bit from her tone.

Aqua was somewhat confused as she said, “And that’s important why?”

“In my past travels, I learned to exploit my adversary’s hubris to create fatal flaws in their plans,” the Doctor said. “In this case, the one who did this arrogantly believed that the funeral would end in burial or cremation and so refused to be intimidated by the only noted antidote here: ‘The victim of the Sleeping Death can be revived only by true love’s kiss'. Cringe inducing, I know, but we are literally living a fairytale, so we have to deal with it.”

“And so?” Aqua asked, still somewhat baffled.

“*So*,” the Doctor emphasised, “if the dwarves' story is true and the Prince reciprocated her feelings for him, she might have a way back.” Energised with hope, Aqua followed her out the TARDIS door as she declared before her dwarven audience, “We have a plan to revive her.”

“Are you sure you want to try?” Doc asked. “Because that involves craving the bastle- err, braving the castle.”

“Why is that a problem?” Grumpy pressed sternly. “Hearin’ them out and showin’ no fear a goin’ even to that witch’s lair is a lot better than stayin’ here doin’ nothin’.”

“Because the castle’s supposed to be guarded by magic and crawling with monsters,” Doc warned.

“Which is why Aqua here came prepared,” the Doctor answered. “With her, all I need to do is convince someone critical to come here while she holds off any resistance.”

“Well, we’d be very much obliged, my dears,” Doc said as the two set off through the woods.

Following their trek through the woods, the Doctor and Aqua entered the courtyard of the noted castle where by a well, they noticed a man about Snow’s age looking around wistfully. Aqua noticed this immediately and asked him, “Is something wrong?”

The man turned to face the two of them with a wheary look about him. “This castle,” he said, “It’s different somehow.” A look of realisation began to sprout on the Doctor. Slowly at first, but gradually increasing in enthusiasm as the man continued, “And I can’t find the princess or hear her beautiful voice. Was it all a dream?”

“It can’t have been a dream,” the Doctor said, “because we know a princess from around these parts. How would you have?”

“We met in this very courtyard once,” he replied. “It was a song that drew us together.” The Doctor felt her head droop down at the corniness, but was returned to task when he asked, “Has something happened to the princess?” 

In an effort to save face, she decided to imply it was because of the situation as she said, “Unfortunately so. Long story short, she was deceived into ingesting a draught of Sleeping Death and I have reason to believe you are the one who must wake her.”

“Then I must go to her,” he declared, ready for action. “Where is she?”

“Seek the seven dwarves who live in the woods,” she told him. “They guard her with hope.”

“I will find them,” he swore. “Perhaps your hunch is correct and I might be able to help.” With that he ran out of the courtyard and before long, Aqua and the Doctor heard the whinnie of his horse, followed by the sound of galloping hooves.

The two were prepared to follow, but stopped. They turned to look up at the castle and then to each other when the Doctor said, “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

“I’m getting it too,” Aqua reciprocated as they walked to the main door of the castle door, intent on figuring this place out.

After picking their way through whatever Unversed were left there, they finally arrived at what they believed was the inner sanctum of the castle. Save for the elegant curtains and flaming braisiers, the only thing in the room was the intricately designed mirror to one side. Even so, the Doctor said, “Remember that bad feeling I mentioned outside?”

“Here it’s the strongest, isn’t it?” Aqua asked.

“In particular, over there,” the Doctor answered, pointing at the mirror. As the two cautiously approached it, she fished a piece of paper from her coat pocket and studied it. “I do believe…” she began before pocketing the paper again and extending her arms.

From the paper, she recited, “‘Spirit of the Magic Mirror, come from the farthest space. Through wind and darkness I summon thee, speak!’” The two were startled by the powerful wind that was kicking up as the incantation reached its climax, punctuated by the storm within which transitioned to fire before revealing the face Terra had witnessed before. The two recoiled in disbelieving shock, Aqua more so than the Doctor who muttered to herself, “Now we see thy face.” What the latter did not expect was the sudden flash of binding light that sucked the two inside. 

When they came to, they were surrounded by purple fire in a blank, dark room. “Where are we?” Aqua asked. “What happened to us?”

“I dare say he pulled us into his domain,” the Doctor replied. She pointed up and when Aqua looked, there, sure enough, was the face in the mirror looking down upon them.

“What does it want?” Aqua asked. Before the Doctor could answer, the glowing aura surrounding the spirit turned red and it flew right for them. The two split to evade and drew their equipment.

“It doesn’t want to talk, that’s for sure,” the Doctor said. The spirit then faded into the floor and when it returned, it was one of multiple faces, surrounding them from all sides. “Only one of them can be real,” she noted.

“Which one, then?” Aqua asked.

The Doctor studied the numerous faces surrounding them and her gaze fell upon one that had a sly smile on its lips rather than the stern demeanor she knew. She pointed at it with her sonic screwdriver and the multiple faces looked like they were all simultaneously deafened. “That one!” she cried. Aqua took the initiative and leapt at it, slashing at it with her Keyblade. After a few strikes, the multiple faces began to spin around Aqua at gradually increasing speed, separating her from the Doctor. When they eventually started slowing down, they lined up between the two facing away from the Time Lord. “Look for the one emoting differently than the rest!” she advised. Aqua looked, saw her chance and took it with reckless abandon. She tackled it to the ground, giving the Doctor her own chance to leap on and give it another taste of screwdriver. Before long, one wound emitted another flash of light that forced the two to shield their eyes.

After they were sucked in, the room they left was completely empty. As a flash of light emanated from the mirror, they were returned, albeit sprawled out across the ground. The Doctor drew Aqua’s attention back to the mirror as they picked themselves back up. “The Queen is gone, my service done,” it was saying. “Adieu, O victorious ones.” The Spirit then faded from the mirror along with its surrounding environment. 

The Doctor walked up to the now empty mirror and touched it. Suspiciously, she gave it a once over scan with her sonic screwdriver as Aqua asked her, “What just happened to us?” 

Looking at the results of her scan, the Doctor decided, “I think we just won.”

Relieved, Aqua just said, “Then let’s get outta here. I’ve had enough of magic mirrors.”

Back at Snow’s coffin, still none of the dwarves’ spirits raised by the recent defeat of the mirror. The Prince was there too, saying of her relationship with them, “She must have really turned their lives, maybe even lifestyles around. I didn’t realise how many others she had impacted.”

“If only she could get a hint of your presence in the here and now,” the Doctor suggested. “Then maybe you yourself could get a feeling of appreciation.” The Prince thought about this proposal and decided to approach the coffin, lift the glass case and give the near lifeless girl an affectionate kiss before kneeling before the plinth. “Come on, please,” Aqua swore she could hear the Doctor mutter. “He’s the one, that’s gotta be enough, figure it out!” Life then began to return to the princess’ being and the Doctor began to feel it in the air. “Look,” she said, much louder this time. “Recognising the feelings they have for each other.” She ran over continuing, “Give me this, please.” Sure enough, Snow’s eyes began to flutter open and she stretched and sat up, rousing the spirits of everyone around, to put it mildly. When her eyes met the Prince’s however, she let herself fall into his arms. 

As the dwarves celebrated, Aqua mused, “You know, Doctor? Before I met you, it was Ven who helped me believe that miracles could happen.” 

“How so?” the Doctor asked.

“That’s a long story,” Aqua replied as her mind drifted back to when she was talking about. “I was by Ven’s bedside and he himself was unconscious. ‘Why won’t you wake up?’ I pleaded. At first it seemed hopeless and so I turned away, but then he slowly started to awaken behind me. Ecstatic, I began calling for Terra and Master Eraqus to see this miracle.”

“I suppose you’ve been living the fairytale life longer than I, then,” the Doctor joked before calling to Snow as she was mounting her Prince’s horse, “Have a good rest of your life!”

“Every waking is a new journey,” she heard Aqua say.

“What does that mean?” the Doctor wondered.

“That maybe Ven left because it was his time.” Aqua replied.

“Only one way to find out,” the Doctor declared. “Let’s explore elsewhere.”

At around that time, Ven himself was curiously exploring another princess’ bedchamber. As he felt himself being drawn towards the bed, a voice to his right cried, “Don’t try anything!”

He found himself confronted by three winged women who did not look happy to see him. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he defended. “It’s just that I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.”

The one dressed in red cautiously approached him asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m Ventus,” he answered, “but you can call me Ven.”

“This one doesn’t seem that bad, does he?” the one in green asked. “Because I feel he has a pure heart, just like Aurora there.”

Not wanting to start on the wrong foot, Ven consulted, “Can you tell me why she’s sleeping?”

“A curse from Maleficent,” the one in red told him, “amplified by her loss of heart.”

“Well then,” he offered, “why don’t I go get it back for her?”

“You’ll be taking an awful risk,” the one in green nervously replied, “because it’s not safe to stage an all out assault on her fortress on the Forbidden Mountain, let alone set foot inside.”

“But we can’t just leave her like this!” Ven cried. “We can’t be afraid. I can help and with it, she will get her heart back. You gotta trust me.”

“You know,” the one in red conceded, “you’re absolutely right. Come along, follow us. After all, we wouldn’t want you to get lost, right?” As they began along the hall, she continued. “The Forbidden Mountain is through the forest, we’ll show you the way.” 

Along the way through the woods, Ven and the fairies encountered a wall of purple and green fire. “Looks like we’ve hit a roadblock,” he noted.

“Maleficent must be willing to go to great lengths to ensure her curse cannot be undone,” the fairy in red noted. Turning to the one in green, she said, “You know what to do.”

“That I do,” she replied and with a wave of her wand, the fire slowly disappeared. Turning back to her company, she proposed, “Shall we?”

With the fairies’ aid, getting into the fortress was easy enough. The hard part came from getting past the defences in the form of mutated animals acting as guards. The fairies intended to take advantage of their bored, disinterested and distracted state and go through the sneaky way, but before long they heard, “Ten- shun!” When they looked, they saw Ven charging the guards quipping, “No sleeping on the job!” Realising they could use the commotion to their advantage, they allowed Ven to fight it out while they moved ahead. 

However, they quickly found their road blocked by a maze of walls that were see-through until you got close to them. “No problem,” the one in blue said. “We just gotta make portals from here to there.” At first they portaled themselves straight to the other side, but when they faced green fire akin to that from the roadblock, they couldn’t disperse it.

“I suppose we must wait for Ventus to come and get across,” the one in red decided. “Perhaps his weapon is the key to getting the heart back.” They had just finished setting up the right path when an armored bipedal pig was thrown into a wall from the direction Ven was now coming from. Seeing the portals and getting the idea, he ran through the string and came out the other side where he was confronted with the heavy fire he saw surrounding a sphere of light he assumed was the heart he sought. Considering the supposed origin of Keyblades as he was told, he decided to point his own at the sphere, creating an opening for it to escape.

As it passed him by, he saw in it a flash of a young man about the age of the sleeping beauty. “What was that?” he wondered.

“Aurora’s memory,” the fairy in red answered. “Her heart must have been restored.”

“If that was a prince,” Ven reasoned, “then she found the man of her dreams!”

“Not long ago, actually,” she continued. “Dreams are very strong beliefs and hers led her to the one who will complete her restoration.”

“I see you have strong beliefs too, don’t you?” the one in green asked.

“Yep,” Ven replied simply.

“You also have a strong light,” the one in red noted.

“All right,” the one in blue spoke up, “we can’t stay here.” With that they took their leave.

As the orb flew through the castle trying to escape, the TARDIS began picking up an energy signature. As the Doctor ran to check the monitor, she called to the nearby Aqua, “I’m getting a reading!” As Aqua moved over to check, she continued, “It’s pretty strong, but it’s moving.”

“Can you get us close enough to see what it is?” Aqua asked hoping it would be a clue.

“Let me just lock the coordinates and we’ll find out,” the Doctor replied, spinning the monitor to be above the next panel of the main console so she could input something before running to the lever on the opposite panel. “Hold on tight,” she called to Aqua as her magnificent machine began to steal into motion.

“How do you expect us to get there in time?” Aqua pointed out.

“Like I said,” the Doctor explained, “a TARDIS can travel in time. Disappearing there and…” She paused to reset the lever and walk out the door to a new environment from the one they left. When once they would have walked into the dwarves’ woodlands, now they were standing in a rocky passage. The Doctor soaked it in as she finished, “...and reappearing here.” As Aqua stepped out, she looked impressed, but by no means astounded. Their attention was then drawn above their heads as they noticed the orb flying away from the quite visible fortress. “A keap standing alone on a dark foreboding mountain,” the Doctor noted. “Not exactly the most enticing place to call home, is it.”

“Were you expecting to face someone who’s your version of civilised?” Aqua joked.

“I’m just saying,” the Doctor explained, “if I were that orb, I’d want out too.”

“Well, you wouldn’t get out without help,” Aqua informed her. “Keyblades are one of the few tools that can move hearts like that.”

“Then one of your peers is in there?” the Doctor reasoned.

“I’m fairly confident,” Aqua responded.

“Let’s find out who, then,” the Doctor declared as she led Aqua down the foreboding path.

As Ven returned to the main throne room where he initially attacked, he and the fairies now found a darkly robed, feminine figure in their path. “Someone has released Aurora’s heart,” she said. “Tell me, child, was it you?”

She turned to reveal herself to be, as the fairy in red would hiss, “Maleficent.”

“Only ‘cause you stole it in the first place!” he cried as he charged recklessly at her only for his Keyblade to strike at nothing. 

“A Keyblade…” Maleficent noted, now on a platform above him where her throne stood, “you must be Ventus.”

“How do you know about me and the Keyblade?!” he demanded.

“My reach ensures I know of the key to bringing me hearts,” she answered. “Terra gave me a demonstration.”

Ven stopped to consider this and asked, “Terra was here?”

“Why, yes,” she answered. “In fact it was he who took Aurora’s heart.”

“That’s a lie!” he snapped, refusing to believe what he heard and readying his Keyblade. 

Sighing, Maleficent said, “I was asked to leave you unharmed, but you leave me no choice.” Sensing what was about to happen, the fairies miniaturised themselves and waited for her to descend to their level before binding her with a spell. Certain of Terra’s character, Ven let her have it, unleashing a furious barrage of physical Keyblade attacks and casts. She held her own defending against many attacks, but not all. As the assault concluded, he found himself panting for breath. Maleficent took advantage of this exhaustion to return to the platform.

As the Doctor and Aqua explored the fortress and approached what they believed to be the inner sanctum, they heard Ven’s voice yell, “There’s no way Terra would hurt somebody like that!”

The Doctor felt Aqua’s pot boiling over and held her back saying quietly, “Not yet. We shouldn’t act rash, so let me make the first move.”

“You don’t believe me?” a dark feminine voice asked. “That’s unfortunate, for he agreed so easily.”

“He did?” Ven asked as his spirits fell.

From his left he heard, “Then his mind cannot have been his own.” He turned to see the Doctor taking her time with her entrance as Aqua followed close behind.

Realising what the Doctor was suggesting, Aqua continued, “It’s the only explanation for him doing something we both know he never would, don’t we Ven?”

Ven considered this theory and decided, “Yeah.”

“Ahh, the truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends,” Maleficent said from above. “After all, one never knows the secrets of another’s heart. I’m sure you’ll agree, Ventus, Aqua, even you, Doctor.”

“Perhaps,” the Doctor replied, “but some of it can inform parts of their personality, in turn informing educated guesses.”

Meanwhile, Aqua was cutting to the chase. “The Master sent me. You should come home.”

“But Terra,” Ven said softly.

“Terra’s not ready to leave yet,” she said, hoping it would be enough.

What she didn’t count on was the words the young man in the mask said to Ven in his room; “Like right now? He’s leaving you behind and by the time you catch up, he’ll be a different person.”

Words that made sure all he would say was, “Sorry Aqua, but I can’t go with you.”

“What?” Aqua knew Ven needed to see Terra, but this badly?

“It’s just-” he said, “I have to find him before it’s too late!” With that, he took off in the direction of the exit. The fairy in green tried to go after him, but the one in red stopped her. 

In his rush to leave, he failed to hear Maleficent say to Aqua, “I see you, too, wield a Keyblade.”

This caught both hers and the Doctor’s attention causing them to stop in their tracks and Aqua to press, “How do *you* know about the Keyblade?”

“A source of power,” Maleficent went on, “a key that opens the hearts of men, of entire worlds, such a power I find most fascinating.”

“Prompting you to ‘talk’ Terra into demonstrating?” the Doctor said in an almost accusatory manner.

“I needed not even ‘talk’ much, as you put it,” Maleficent declared. “Now, would you like to assist me as well?”

“Once, perhaps, I may have considered it,” the Doctor said, “but I grew up, learned what happens to those who lift themselves above others.”

“And that would be?” Maleficent asked.

“Here,” Aqua hissed, gripping her Keyblade. “Let me show you.” She leapt at the platform on which Maleficent stood, but she blasted her back to the Doctor.

“It seems that Xehanort was right,” Maleficent observed. 

_Master Xehanort?_ Aqua’s mind raced.

“You *are* a most stubborn girl,” Maleficent continued.

Quickly, Aqua tried to act on this new information and expand on it by asking, “How do you-”

“I see you need time to consider my offer,” Maleficent cut her off. “Fortunately, I have the perfect place.” With that she banged the ground with her staff, causing the brickwork beneath their feet to give way. They tried to grab onto something, but couldn’t act fast enough to save themselves.

While all this was happening, Ven was running toward the exit of the fortress. As he ran out, all that was on his mind was, Terra, where are you?

When their feet found ground to stand on again, the Doctor and Aqua found themselves in a dungeon cell. As soon as they started to take in these new surroundings, their eyes fell upon a young man chained to a wall before them. “I wasn’t expecting to have company,” he said.

“Nor were we,” the Doctor said, “but then again we weren’t expecting to end up here.”

“Well, who are you anyway?” he said.

“Better to get it out of the way sooner, eh?” the Doctor joked. “I’m the Doctor, this is Aqua and you are?”

“Phillip, son of King Hubert,” he responded, “and the only one who can put this right again.”

“A fat lot of good such bold claims can do us from in here,” the Doctor noted.

From above their heads they all heard, “Then we shall get you out.” They all looked up to see the fairies descending from the hole in the roof. As the one in blue went to work on the door lock, the other two aided the Doctor and Aqua in setting Phillip free, Aqua with her Keyblade, the Doctor with her sonic screwdriver and the fairies with their wands. Once he was out of his manacles, he was stopped by the fairy in red as she continued, “The road ahead may be barred by many more dangers that you alone will have to face.”

Standing tall, the Doctor interjected, “Not alone.”

Focusing on her now, the fairies collectively asked, “What?”

“Aqua and I muddied the water simply by setting foot here,” she reasoned. “I’d say we’re duty bound to set things right.”

“Even if we weren’t,” Aqua piped up, “there’s something I need to know and Maleficent has the answer.”

“If you’re finished,” the one in blue said from the other end of the room, “we’re out.” Sure enough, the cell door had been opened, albeit not quietly.

“Then we’ll have to hurry,” the Doctor said. “Someone may have heard you.”

Eyeing a sheathed sword hanging nearby with other assorted items, Phillip said, “Not without my equipment.”

“Make it quick,” the Doctor said as he took it all and re-equipped himself. Now ready, they turned to leave, but were immediately confronted with the image of Maleficent’s faithful raven who proceeded to squawk in alarm as he flew back the way he came. They quickly decide to run the other way only for their route to be blocked by the raven again, this time with Maleficent’s guard charging in alongside. As Aqua stepped forward to defend them with her Keyblade at the ready, the Doctor tapped Phillip and indicated the other way while telling him, “Run.” Seeing no other option, he and the fairies fled. Jumping through a window onto a ruined wall, they ran along it with Aqua close behind. 

Hearing the neigh of a horse below them, Phillip cried, “Samson, we’re not leaving without you.” He slid down some slippery debris and having followed, the Doctor used her sonic to free him of his chains before mounting up with Phillip. Before they could go, they heard more squawking and turned to see the raven overseeing the dropping of rocks onto their heads from a great height. As they plummeted towards them, they were caught by an air spell and then hurled back at those who sent them down in the first place. As they turned to see their savior, they saw that Aqua had caught up with them and didn’t get on the horse as he took off. Ahead and above them, they saw archers with arrows notched alongside other grunts ready to drop a liquid the Doctor assumed to be hot oil on their heads. The fairies cast an energy field in front of them to protect from the arrows while Aqua froze the liquid into place. As the raven squawked for more action, the fairy in blue took off after it and turned it to stone on a rampart by Maleficent's tower.

She had already rejoined the others when Maleficent herself emerged from within declaring, “Silence!” Turning to the stone bird and commanded, “You, tell those fools to-” She looked again and realised, “No.” As she turned to the main gate, she saw Aqua use a spell to hold it up as Phillip, the fairies and the Doctor ran through. It just closed as she went through herself and turned the spell to slow the rising drawbridge. As the noble Samson safely landed on the other side, she then lept for the Doctor who reached out and grabbed her, saving her from plummeting to almost certain doom. She hauled the Keyblade wielder onto the horse as Maleficent reached the top of her tower and began calling for the heavens to crash down upon them. As lightning destroyed a rocky arch, they passed the TARDIS and the Doctor motioned to it. Understanding her plan to reduce the weight Samson had to carry, they lept off the horse and ran for the vehicle.

“Why are you entering a blue box?” the fairy in red cried.

“You’ll see,” the Doctor said as she led Aqua inside and hastily shut the door behind her. As she ran for the controls, she said to Aqua, “We don’t have time to dematerialise and even if we did, I’d run the risk of something breaking and us ending up in the wrong time. Given how much better odds there are of that happening with attacks from the sky coming for us we’ll have to fly it manually.” As it began taking off, more lightning destroyed part of Phillip’s road. He was able to find his way back, but he lost valuable time. Time that Maleficent took advantage of to call even more lightning, this time directly attacking the TARDIS. The inside shivered and shook, prompting the Doctor to bark orders at Aqua just to stabilize as they continued. 

Maleficent decided it was time for a serious roadblock as she cried, “A forest of thorns shall be your tomb, borne through the skies on a fog of doom! Now go with the curse and serve me well. Round Stefan’s castle, cast my spell!” From the ground, thorns began to erupt from even the stone bridges that connected the castle to the woods. 

As the TARDIS scraped itself on one of the earlier ones, the Doctor felt it and after looking from a monitor to see what it was, told Aqua, “I’ll have to drop you at the front so you can help Phillip through that.” With that, she flicked a switch and opened the door for Aqua to leap out of. As she touched the ground, Phillip joined them. As he drew his sword, Aqua began hacking away at the thorns in their path. He attempted to help, but his sword did nothing to damage them. 

“You’ll need a better weapon,” the fairy in red said as she sent energy into the sword causing it to glow. This time when Phillip went to attack the thorns with it, he had much more relative ease in doing so. 

As they neared the end and rejoined the Doctor, they were confronted by Maleficent. “What did Master Xehanort tell you?” Aqua pressed.

“Such a pity, child, that you don’t have Terra’s gift for obedience,” Maleficent said, avoiding the question. “Nor can you see how easy it was for him.”

Certain of the Terra she knew, Aqua defended, “Terra would *never* do anything to help you!”

“Quite the contrary,” Maleficent said. “He fully embraced the darkness within himself.”

“You’re a cunning manipulator,” the Doctor said, “but an awful liar.”

Growling to herself, Maleficent declared, “See for yourself, O Prince, Keyblade wielder and traveller, all the powers of hell!” With that, she encased herself in green fire which grew and grew until it dispersed to reveal a great black and purple dragon.

Shaken by this grave new challenge, but by no means out, the Doctor reminded Aqua, “I can tell that wasn’t a satisfactory answer, so if you want a better one we’ll have to take her down. That said, she can’t confess if she’s dead, so make sure to wound, but not kill.”

Taking that into consideration, Phillip sent Samson to gallop past the beast. She turned to attack it, but as she took off, the Doctor grabbed onto the tail and held on for dear life. As she moved further up the tail, the dragon tried to buck her off. She only let go when she knew she’d be thrown further up. There she gave the now reptilian witch a taste of sonic in the ear. She knew she’d get jostled about and inevitably thrown off, but she also knew Maleficent would have to land and take time to collect herself before she could make a move, so she let it all happen. Aqua took advantage of this to unleash a furious barrage similar to Ven’s before she was cut off from the others by fire. Phillip charged forward with sword in hand, but quickly found himself backhanded by the monster into the bridge wall. At this point, the Doctor came to and noticed the sword right in front of her. Signalling to the fairies, she scrambled for it causing the one in red to enchant it once more as the other two restrained the mighty dragon. She then positioned it in her hand so she could throw it like a javelin. Having taken advantage of her time using her sonic on the dragon to make a scan while doing so, she knew where to aim her throw so that when it found purchase in Maleficent's chest, it missed all the critical organs. As the monster collapsed, she pulled the sword out just in time to duck out of the way and avoid being crushed. As the dragon shrunk down into the humanoid form of Maleficent, the thorns began to dissipate and most everything around returned to what the Doctor and Aqua could guess was this world’s version of normal. Phillip then took his leave to save his princess, leaving them alone with the now humanoid Maleficent. 

Having pieced together his motivation, Aqua proposed, “It was the power of true love that compelled him never to give up.”

Scoffing, all Maleficent could say in reply was, “At least I was not defeated by one driven by something as insignificant as ‘love’. For that, I suppose I should be grateful to you, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome,” the Doctor said, “but at least I actually took the time to understand what it even is before I started getting mixed up in affairs driven by it.”

“Don’t count on her ever doing the same,” Aqua reminded. “She’s too clouded by darkness to see there’s something greater.” Turning her attention to the witch in question, she continued, “Try all you want, but you’ll never defeat a heart so full of light.”

“Perhaps,” Maleficent conceded, “but remember that as long as there is light, a shadow will be cast and in time, many more will be drawn to walk in it. Then they will all belong to me!” On that last word, she became engulfed in green fire and disappeared.

Now alone, the Doctor proceeded toward her TARDIS, but as she opened the door, she heard Aqua say into the air, “Terra, you better stay strong for me.” She then heard the TARDIS engines whoosh and when she turned to look, she smiled as she witnessed it dematerialise before her very eyes before taking her own leave.

As soon as she received the kiss, Aurora’s eyes shot open and as soon as she realised who Phillip was, she embraced him strangely tightly. “Why are you so… tense?” he asked.

“In my dreams, I saw you coming to my aid,” she responded, panicked, “but you weren’t alone. My guardians were at your side alongside two other women in a… blue box?”

“But there’s more, isn’t there?” he observed. “More that caused such distress.”

Now a bit more relaxed and trusting, she answered, “A dark place where one or more dark men conspire to fulfil dark purposes.”

At that time, beneath a castle on a yet to be seen world, a man grinned after hearing something that Xehanort had to say to him before taking his leave.

End titles: 

Starring

The Doctor - Lily James

Aqua - Willa Holland

Ventus - Jesse McCartney

Witch - Donna Murphy

Snow White - Daisy Ridley

Doc - Warwick Davis

Grumpy - Binde Johal

Happy - Rusty Goffe

Bashful - Maxwell Laird

Sleepy - Nathan Phillips

Sneezy - Harrison Davis

Dopey model - Deep Roy

Prince Florian - Josh Dallas

Voice of the Mirror - Corey Burton

Aurora - Elle Fanning

Maleficent - Susanne Blakeslee

Fairies - Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville

Prince Phillip - Brenton Thwaites

Additional voices and voice effects - Frank Welker, Dee Bradley Baker, Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs appears courtesy of Big Finish Productions

Dwarf casting director - Warwick Davis

Music by - Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Original theme music composed by - Ron Grainer

Original theme music arranged by - Delia Derbyshire

Snow White leitmotifs composed by - Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith, Leigh Harline

Original Sleeping Beauty score and leitmotifs composed by - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Theme music rearranged by - Segun Akinola

Synthesisers arranged by - Segun Akinola, Yoko Shimomura

Orchestra arranged by - Murray Gold

Orchestrated and conducted by - Ben Foster

Title Sequence and Additional VFX - Ben Pickles

Visual Effects and Animation - Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Works, DNEG

Additional VFX - BBC Wales Graphics

Post production audio effects - Skywalker Sound

Miniature effects - The Motel Unit

Prosthetics - Millennium FX

Executive producers - RedJLP,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite the game only showing the bite of the apple, a lot of televised or streamed series feature cold openings where you’re shown a bit of context leading into the actual episode after the opening titles play and the chase from the film satisfied those requirements. Despite there being bookshelves in the Peter Capaldi console room upon which mine was based, the Doctor didn't have enough time to change the contents and pull the now deemed necessary ones from the library. As such, I had to have her explore the library for the solution. Following her talk with the prince, every Star Wars nerd would be able to recognise the phrase "I have a bad feeling about this". One of the more difficult parts of writing this were the action scenes for reasons previously stated compounded by the fact that in a video game, there is no one way to tackle combat, though the are particularly effective methods to get past bosses. That said, while my omitting Terra's fight with the mirror was motivated by that on a personal level, I realised that it created many questions for newcomers, particularly "what happened in there?" and "how did the mirror fight?", questions that the unavoidable one with Aqua would soon answer. While "I think we just won" only those who watched a bit of MCU would understand, everyone who watched "The Doctor Dances" would recognise how much what the Doctor was muttering during Snow White's awakening was like how Christopher Eccleston pointed out the nanogenes were learning their mistake and simultaneously how to heal Jamie properly. Why I never specifically named the fairies is due to how they were given new names in their only live-action appearances, being the 2014 movie and its sequel, "Mistress of Evil". Thankfully, their names were never specifically dropped in game, saving me the trouble. Given what she knew of Terra from personal experience and word of mouth, the Doctor's alternate perspective on things gives me reason to allow her to see through Maleficent's twisting of the truth. That said, knowing that David Tennant was extremely tempted by Brother Lassar's offer of wielding the Skasis Paradigm in "School Reunion", I used that as a jumping off point to have the Doctor and Aqua quote Altaïr as he's about to finish off Majd Addin in "Assassin's Creed 1". Despite the fairies conjuring a sword and shield for Phillip in the movie, I knew that it was socially acceptable to be carrying a weapon and decided that he would be cautious enough to have one and when he was sprung from his cell, have a Jack Sparrow moment in reclaiming it. As for Aurora's distress at the end, I read orphan_account's inclusion of the event in their own work (in particular an "Animated characters as Hogwarts students" work in presumed progress called "The Magic of Hogwarts") and they showed an instance wherein Aurora doesn't feel like her awakening was all sunshine and roses.
> 
> Thankfully, casting was a little bit easier this time around as there were very few options to pick from for certain characters, meaning the process of verifying how used all the candidates are to television went by much faster.

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my other story, this will be written as if I were describing how it is to be visualised. The reason is that said other story is told from a first person perspective as if it were the main protagonist keeping a journal because in an online multiplayer focused game like the self-titled mode for GTA V, you carve your own path. In Kingdom Hearts and TV shows, the story is already written, and so to reflect that, I’ve tried to think about it as if I were a showrunner keeping this going for multiple seasons. One work will contain the story of a single season in which each will encompass a single game's story, dividing the numerous worlds into one/two chapter stories to represent the episodes that comprise the season. With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
